GREEN TOWNSHIP, Ohio — The pastor of St. Ignatius Loyola in Green Township, who oversees the state’s largest Catholic elementary school, has been on leave since early July.
“Archbishop Schnurr has asked Father Tom Mannebach, our pastor, to take some time away from the parish to recharge and develop positive coping skills when faced with stressful situations. This time away is open-ended and will be spent in Michigan,” temporary pastoral administrator Father Tom Bolte wrote in the July 14 parish bulletin.
Bolte wrote in subsequent newsletters that Mannebach was absent “for treatment of personal health issues” and urged parishioners not to email or text him.
“The program he is in will last at least until August, maybe longer. It is very structured, so there is no contact during the program. After it ends, he can come back as pastor here or take another assignment. Cards can be sent to the parish office, and he will receive them in due time,” Bolte wrote in the July 28 parish bulletin.
Rob Pieper
A spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati said Mannebach was “taking time to address ongoing health issues” and referred WCPO to a July 3 letter from Bolte to the St. Ignatius community announcing his appointment as temporary parish administrator.
Mannebach’s leave came just weeks after the WCPO 9 investigative team interviewed former priest Tony Cutcher on June 7.
Cutcher resigned from his active priestly ministry following a 2021 scandal at St. Peter’s Church in Huber Heights. The first reports aired on July 9 and 10.
Cutcher and Mannebach attended Mount St. Mary’s Seminary and Divinity School together and were both ordained in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in 1999.
Following WCPO’s report on Cutcher, Father Barry Stechschulte resigned as pastor of St. Susanna Parish in Mason. More than 500 people signed a petition calling on him to resign after the report showed he ordered the destruction of suspected child pornography and waited six years to report it to police while at another parish.
Ray Pfeffer
On July 30, Archbishop Dennis Schnurr named Father Jeff Kemper temporary administrator of St. Susanna. An archdiocesan spokesman declined to say where Stechschulte would work next.
Meanwhile, the large St. Ignatius Parish on the West Side has been in turmoil in recent years. This is the second pastor to take a sabbatical since 2019, with few details initially given to parishioners.
In late July 2019, the archdiocese placed St. Ignatius’s pastor, Father Geoff Drew, on leave, with many parishioners saying they were unsure of what exactly he was accused of.
WCPO Staff
On July 31, 2019, Archbishop Dennis Schnurr sent a letter to St. Ignatius parishioners announcing that Drew would not be returning to the parish and was accused of behavior that violates the archdiocese’s decree on child protection.
Schnurr wrote that Drew would undergo a physical, psychological and spiritual evaluation at an independent inpatient treatment facility and that he would consider the assessment and recommendations of professionals in determining the next step in the investigation.
Weeks later, a Hamilton County grand jury indicted Drew on charges that he raped an altar boy in the late 1980s and early 1990s while he was a lay music minister at St. Jude Parish in Bridgetown.
Drew pleaded guilty and is serving a seven-year prison sentence.
St. Ignatius School has more than 1,100 students enrolled for the new school year, making it the largest Catholic elementary school in Ohio, according to the July 14 parish bulletin.
Mannebach did not respond to a request for comment. He has been pastor since July 2022, according to the St. Ignatius Loyola Church website.
Bulletin of Saint Ignatius of Loyola by webeditors on Scribd
