The Vatican should be close to issuing a ruling on the removal of a Catholic priest from his post as pastor of Bend’s St. Francis of Assisi parish.

Father James Radloff headed the church for nearly two years prior to his removal Oct. 1 by Bishop Liam Cary, head of the Diocese of Baker. Cary and the diocese have not publicly explained the reasons for Radloff’s removal, other than to say he remains “a priest in good standing.”

Cary had initially said Radloff would be reassigned to head up a parish in Merrill, a town of about 900 people southeast of Klamath Falls. The reassignment was put on hold in early November.

With the help of the Rev. Thomas Faucher, Radloff appealed his removal from the Bend post to the Congregation for Clergy.

Faucher described his role as Radloff’s canonical adviser as similar to that of a lawyer, and the Congregation for Clergy, based at the Vatican, as something like a court for resolving disputes over canon law between clergy.

Canon law concerning the removal of a pastor is not particularly specific, Faucher said — a pastor can be removed for, among other things, “senility” or “creating a public scandal” — leaving some room for interpretation as to whether a given act ought to be considered grounds for removal.

Fauscher said it typically takes about three months for the Congregation for Clergy to issue a ruling on a case, and that he’s been “checking the mailbox every day.”

“It’s a little bit like the U.S. Supreme Court in a sense, they have cases in front of it, and every Monday or Tuesday or whatever it is, they come out and say, ‘We’ve ruled on the Jones case or the Smith case,’” he said. “That’s sort of how this is; it could be this week, it could be next week. It could be a couple of weeks.”

Representatives of the Diocese of Baker declined to be interviewed for this story, citing the need to protect Radloff’s privacy.

Radloff has served the church in Central Oregon since 1993, when he was appointed to serve a sprawling parish stretching from south of Bend to Klamath County, from the Cascades to Fort Rock, Silver Lake and Christmas Valley.

— Reporter: 541-383-0387, shammers@bendbulletin.com