Catholics Ask Vatican To Clear Name of Knoxville Priest Who Raised Complaints About Former Bishop

I wouldn't call this a "petition". It looks to me like a libellus to initiate a case in Canon Law. Bp Stika was notorious for being a "progressive".

From LifeSiteNews

By LSN Staff

Jenny Hay, the investigative reporter behind the petition, told LifeSiteNews that she believes Fr. Joseph Reed was targeted because of his part in a lawsuit involving a former seminarian of the Knoxville diocese.

Catholics in Knoxville are appealing to the Vatican to restore their beloved priest’s good reputation.

On March 24, journalist Jenny Hay mailed a petition on behalf of Fr. Joseph Reed to Archbishop Shelton Fabre of Louisville, Kentucky; Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the papal nuncio to the United States; and Cardinal Robert Prevost. The petition had been signed by 435 people.

It reads as follows:

March 24, 2025

Addressee (Fabre / Pierre / Prevost)
Address

Subject: A petition on behalf of our brother in Christ, Father Joseph Reed

Enclosures:
1. Letter from the Dicastery of Legislative Texts
2. Letter from Bishop Mark Beckman
3. Press release issued by the Diocese of Knoxville
4. Article: “Bp. Beckman’s March 4 letter may violate canon law”
5. Article: “Father Joe and the lawsuit”
6. Article: “Snitches get stitches”

Your Excellency,

Peace be with you! We all greet you from the great State of Tennessee. Tennessee is known as “The Volunteer State,” because in times of battle, our citizens always answer the call to serve.

We are writing to you out of great concern for our brother in Christ, Father Joseph Reed. For his sake, and for the sake of our Diocese, we pray for the following relief:

1. A public statement that Fr. Reed remains a priest in good standing with the Diocese of Knoxville.
2. That Fr. Reed be reinstated as Pastor of St. John Neumann Catholic Church and School.
3. That an investigation be conducted into whether Bishop Mark Beckman violated canon law by issuing a letter and allowing a press release stating that complaints of “boundary violations” against Fr. Reed were “credible.”
4. That an investigation be conducted into whether Fr. Reed is being persecuted because he is a potential witness for the plaintiff in a sex-abuse lawsuit against our diocese, or because he reported our last bishop in good faith.

Fr. Reed is a good and holy priest, absolutely dedicated to making Jesus known. Most of us know Fr. Reed personally as Pastor of St. John Neumann Church and School or as a visiting priest to Knoxville Catholic High School.

On December 12, 2024, Bp. Beckman placed Fr. Reed on administrative leave in response to complaints of “boundary violations.” After three months of investigation by civil authorities and the Diocese, no one found cause to charge Fr. Reed with any violation of criminal or canon law.

Nevertheless, on March 4, 2025, Bp. Beckman issued a letter and allowed a press release stating that complaints against Fr. Reed of “boundary violations” were “credible.” These publications appear to violate Canon 220, especially as elucidated by the enclosed letter from the Dicastery for Legislative Texts.

We are concerned that Fr. Reed may actually be a victim of retaliation. In good faith, he raised complaints about the actions of our previous bishop. Fr. Reed may also be a key witness for the plaintiff in a sex-abuse lawsuit against our diocese. One member of the diocesan review board, Christopher Manning, was directly involved in the events addressed by the same lawsuit.

We desperately need intervention from Rome. Please come to our aid and help us.

Sincerely,

Friends of Father Joseph Reed

Hay, the investigative reporter behind the petition, told LifeSiteNews that she believes Fr. Reed may have been targeted because of his part in a lawsuit involving a former seminarian of the Diocese of Knoxville. The former seminarian, Wojciech Sobczuk, has been accused of a homosexual rape that allegedly took place in 2019.

“This may be related to the lawsuit that forced (former) Bp. (Richard) Stika’s resignation,” Hay said via email.

“Fr. Reed was the vocations director who advised against taking Sobczuk as a seminarian. Then Sobczuk went on to (allegedly) rape the cathedral organist,” she continued.

“As reported extensively by The Pillar, Bishop Stika scrapped the diocesan investigation (into the alleged rape) with the help of a man by the name of Chris Manning. The organist went on to sue the diocese, and that lawsuit is now in discovery. Yet Chris Manning was on the review board judging Fr. Reed.”

Chris Manning, a retired police officer, is not related to the Diocese of Knoxville’s Fr. Chris Manning.

Hay told LifeSite that after a three-month investigation into the alleged complaints about Reed’s conduct, nobody found a reason to charge him with any crime. Nevertheless, the diocese issued a negative press release about Fr. Reed, which Hay said was “devoured by every outlet in the area.”

“However, the diocese never published the same information in its own newspaper, the East Tennessee Catholic. To me, this is evidence that they only meant to tarnish him in the secular realm, without catching too much flak from the faithful who love this man,” she said.

Hay believes that the Diocese of Knoxville violated Reed’s right to a good reputation, which is protected by canon law.

“Without any due process, they broadcast to secular media that he committed ‘boundary violations’ which were ‘grave and unbecoming of the holy priesthood,’” she observed.

“Fr. Reed is the finest priest I’ve ever known.”

Reed is expected to be a witness for the cathedral organist’s litigation against the Knoxville diocese.

On her Knoxville Nobility Substack page, Hay revealed that Susan Vance of SNAP (Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests) Tennessee supports Reed.

“I believe this is a campaign to discredit Father Joe Reed as a witness in the dioceses,” Vance wrote to Hay. “It certainly appears that whistleblowers are being punished by Bp. Backman and diocesan leadership.”

Pope Francis accepted Bishop Stika’s resignation in June 2023, two years after Knoxville priests petitioned the papal nuncio for “merciful relief” from the bishop’s reign. For his part, the then-65-year-old Bishop Stika told the The New York Times that he had requested resignation due to ill health.