A New York City pastor has ousted community groups, closed a food pantry and raised the rent for AA meetings at his Brooklyn church.
In a memo sent to food pantry volunteers inside Saint Augustine’s Church in Park Slope, Brooklyn, Father Frank Tumino said their last day would be March 16.
Father Tumino told the Helping Hands Food Pantry that the decision came with a ‘heavy heart’ and ‘after considerable prayerful reflection’ according to The city.
The outlet reported that Tumino said volunteers had not followed child protection training and that the church lacked resources.
Despite this, volunteers told The City that they had complied with the training and that the costs of running the pantry are minimal due to grants and donations.
In a memo sent to food pantry volunteers inside Saint Augustine’s Church in Park Slope, Brooklyn, Father Frank Tumino, seen here, said their last day would be March 16
Tumino said volunteers had not followed child protection training and that the church, seen here, lacked resources
Tom Wargo, a volunteer at Helping Hands, said: ‘The church pays for nothing except for the electricity we use.
‘We open ourselves up. We close. We clean everything ourselves. It is all volunteer-run. He just wants us out.’
Parishioners described the closure as just the latest incident since Tumino took over the parish in late 2021.
According to them, he canceled an annual Christmas party for children of incarcerated parents that the church had hosted for ten years.
Tumino is also said to have raised the rent at a bi-weekly Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, raising it from $80 to $800 a month.
On top of this, Tumino canceled a monthly dinner for people living with AIDS and their families, according to parishioners.
Ellen Edelman told the outlet: ‘Every single program has been pushed out’, she recalled being told ‘we just don’t want you, period, we’re not a parish programme’.
Mychal McNicholas had been behind the AA meetings that took place inside the church and decided to go after the sudden price increase.
He said, ‘We just left. The priest has a white collar on which says feed the hungry, take care of the sick and the lame, and he throws us out into the street’.
Parishioners described the closure as just the latest incident since Tumino took over the parish in late 2021
Tumino is also said to have raised the rent at a bi-weekly Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, raising it from $80 to $800 a month
Father Tumino previously worked at the Bank of Japan before moving to Chase Bank as a security analyst, according to an interview with The tablet.
After working with the company in their Penn Station branch, he left and was transferred to private banking.
He enrolled at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington in 1992 and was ordained in 1998
In 2022, Tumino spoke candidly about the church’s financial problems after their $2 million gold tabernacle was stolen in 2022.
The New York Times reported that Tumino said: ‘Understand, these parishes have been decimated.
“These parishes need work for between 10 and 15 million dollars. I have been entrusted with that, and there is not that money available, so you have to choose what you can choose and do now’.
John Quaglione, deputy press secretary for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn said CBS: ‘Father Tamino, the priest, he didn’t want this to be shut down. It is an important ministry.
“We can’t take that risk as a church, as a parish, to allow people in need to come and be served by people we don’t know their full history, background checks, proper training.”
In a statement, the church said: ‘Unfortunately, there have been some programs which have not complied with parish, legal and diocesan requirements.
‘As such, the safety of all parishioners and the financial integrity of the parish cannot be compromised.’