Catholic Charities Head Sued for Smear Campaign

There's more legal trouble for the Catholic Church -- except this time it doesn't involve sex abuse.

A lawsuit filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court accuses one of Francis Cardinal George's top aides -- the Rev. Michael Boland, head of Catholic Charities -- of orchestrating a smear campaign against the agency's former director of Latino Affairs, Heriberto Lopez Alberola.

Among the allegations in the defamation suit, which also names a second Chicago priest as a defendant: 

• Boland relayed to "Catholic Charities employees and others that Alberola had assaulted Boland at a fundraiser for the Cardinal's Scholarship Fund . . . on November 23, 2009, despite knowing that this was not true."
• Boland was behind the creation of a poster featuring Alberola's name, photo and a caution to keep him off the grounds of Holy Name Cathedral, where Boland lives and Alberola is a parishioner. The poster, circulated at the cathedral among other places, calls Alberola a "disgruntled former Catholic Charities' employee" and urges the police be called if he's spotted.
• At Boland's request, the Rev. Charles Rubey, associate director of programs at Catholic Charities, "communicated to others that Alberola is potentially homicidal and suicidal" although both priests "knew this to be untrue."
• Boland "circulated a rumor" that Alberola divulged "corporate secrets" and was "undermining Catholic Charities and the Church."

Neither Boland nor Rubey could immediately be reached for comment.

A spokeswoman for Catholic Charities -- which provides an array of social services, from drug counseling and housing assistance to adoption services and job training -- said she had not seen the complaint, so could not comment.

Alberola left Catholic Charities in April 2009, according to the lawsuit, and now works for another arm of the Archdiocese of Chicago, the Chancery.

Church officials also are accused of trying to have Alberola ousted from that job.

His attorney could not be reached for comment.

The lawsuit comes as the Vatican and some American Church officials are under intense scrutiny for the way they handled reports about predator priests. Questions have been raised about whether the pope himself -- particularly before he became pontiff -- acted swiftly and appropriately in investigating and punishing abusive clerics.