Fr. Bony Monastere, who served as the parochial vicar for St. Therese of Lisieux Church in East Flatbush, was fired from priestly ministry due to a sexual abuse allegation involving an adult who was found to be substantiated.
Removal from Ministry
According to The Tablet, the decision to remove Fr. Monastere was announced to parishioners in a letter written by Bishop Robert Brennan and delivered by Auxiliary Bishop Neil Tiedemann on Sunday, Mar. 19. The letter was read aloud to the congregation.
In his letter, Bishop Brennan stated that the diocese had been informed about the accusation in September 2022 and that Father Monastere had denied it then.
The situation was handed over to the Diocesan Review Board, an independent tribunal responsible for reviewing abuse complaints.
After the investigation, the review board concluded that the complaint was valid and recommended that Fr. Monastere be removed from his position.
As mentioned, the Diocese of Brooklyn has a "zero tolerance" policy regarding abuse and procedures to combat it.
About Fr. Bony Monastere
On June 2, 2007, he was given the title of parish vicar for the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, which is located in Jamaica.
His ordination took place on June 2. Also, he was the parochial vicar at Holy Cross Church in Flatbush (2016-2020), Holy Innocents Church in Flatbush (2010-2013), and Sacred Heart Church in Cambria Heights (2008-2010).
In addition, he served as the administrator and then the priest of St. Laurence Church in East New York from 2013 to 2016.
He was the coordinator of the Youth Ministry for the Haitian National Apostolate.
Before being appointed to his current position at Holy Cross in 2017, he spent the year 2016 working as an associate priest at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Corona.
Since June 30, 2020, Fr. Monastere has been serving the parish of St. Therese of Lisieux as its parochial vicar.
Diocese of Brooklyn
Based on its website, the Diocese of Brooklyn was established in 1853 to cater to the requirements of the over five million Irish Catholic immigrants who, exhausted and impoverished, arrived at the port of New York in search of a better life.
The majority of those immigrants settled in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens.
The Diocese of Brooklyn continues to be a vibrant and diverse community even in modern times, as it is once again home to an immigrant population primarily of Hispanics.
More than 1.3 million people call themselves Catholic out of the total population of the boroughs, which comes to more than 4.9 million overall.
The diversity of the different cultures represented by the people who call the Diocese of Brooklyn home may be seen in the faces of those sitting in the pews at St. Joseph's.
Moreover, it is one of the largest churches in both Brooklyn and Queens, where it is located.
The Cathedral Basilica of St. James, located in the heart of downtown Brooklyn, serves as the diocesan cathedral—the Co-Cathedral of Saint.
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