Newsletter January 16, 2026
- Mary Fofanah

- Jan 22
- 3 min read
As reported earlier, we received a three month extension from the Dicastery regarding our appeal asking them to revoke the Bishop’s decree. The date of their letter was January 2, 2026. This means the Dicastery now has until April 2, 2026 to provide their ruling regarding this appeal and that the suspension of the decree continues. In the letter they invited us to send any additional supporting material that we believe supports our recourse. I provided a packet of additional supporting information in a letter dated January 14, 2026. This process with the Dicastery began in March of 2025 with our original appeal documents. Since then we have sent multiple addendums covering seven additional topics. This will be our last document submittal to the Dicastery as this is the last step in this particular process.
As also reported, we submitted our appeal request to the Apostolic Signatura on December 10, 2025. This was done due to the lack of response from the Dicastery as of that date, and the fact that in order to ensure the Signatura would review our case we had to meet their required submittal date. We now await the decision of the Dicastery. If the Dicastery rules in our favor then the decree will be revoked and no further action will be necessary. If the Dicastery rules in favor of the Bishop and the decree, then our appeal will be in the hands of the Signatura. We will then await their decision, which would likely take several more months. This could easily mean the suspension of our decree will be in place until summer or later in 2026. If the case ends being accepted by Signatura, that is when we will be required to hire a Canon Lawyer from the office in Rome.
Our Assessment appeal is still pending with the Dicastery. The Dicastery suspended the Assessment in October. This means that even though Father Dennis “accumulated” the $211,800, it can not be paid out in the bankruptcy settlement. The money is currently being held in a separate fund. Unfortunately this fund does not generate earnings, so the growth we would have achieved is now not happening. Our Assessment appeal was first sent to the Dicastery in August of 2025. Three addendums have been sent to the Dicastery with the latest one sent January 6, 2026, after the action by Father Dennis. We await this ruling and the ruling regarding the merger appeal.
I have submitted my name to be a speaker at one of the four bankruptcy hearing dates and await feedback from the court.
Please pray for and welcome Father David and Father John. We desperately need transparency, integrity, and competent leadership.
Thanks to our Trustees (Carol Stitt, Dan Butler), Finance Council (Paul Bzdak, John Whelpley, Paul Abdo), CRCF advisors (Mike Kelley, Larry Pavlock) and all of you who have assisted, provided information, and prayed for our success. Please continue.
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Thanks – Dan
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Apologies for the delay in posting this, everyone!