Fr. Mark Gruber’s Repudiation of Deposition
The undersigned, Fr. Mark Francis Gruber, O.S.B., Ph.D., D.P.A.S., a solemnly professed monk and ordained priest with stability at St Vincent Archabbey, a constituent monastery of the American Cassinese Benedictine Congregation, do hereby formally repudiate entirely the contents of the deposition taken at the Law offices of Reed Smith in Pittsburgh, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States of America on October, 21, 2010, submitted to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), as part of the supporting documentation presented by Archabbot Douglas Nowicki, and his canonical adviser Monsignor Mark L. Bartchak with respect to Poenalis 341/2009.
The undersigned does so for the following reasons:
1. Said deposition was not conducted in accordance, nor compliant with the detailed provisions prescribed by Pennsylvania State Law relating to the taking of a civil deposition outlined within the Pennsylvania State Code. Should the salient facts of said deposition be subjected to judicial scrutiny in the civil forum in the future, they would be declared illegal / and a violation of Pennsylvania State Law with potential criminal consequences for some of the named parties.
2. Upon completion of said deposition, the undersigned was not provided with an complete transcript of said deposition, a mandated requirement of the Pennsylvania State Code; DENIED the procedural right to review said transcript, and present an errata sheet. Both actions constitute a severe violation of Pennsylvania State Law. The undersigned, did not authenticate, by means of a signature, in writing, the completed transcript in the presence of a Civil Notary, a statuary requirement of Pennsylvania State Law.
3. Said deposition was not notarised by a Civil Notary, authorised to act within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; nor does said deposition contain both the embossed seal and ink stamp, detailing the name of the authenticating notary, the County within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, where the Civil Notary holds their Commission, and the expiration date of their Commission as a Notary Public, all prescribed requirements of Pennsylvania State Law.
4. Said deposition was a violation of the norms and procedure of the 1983 Code of Canon Law. The modus operandi or intentionality of Archabbot Nowicki in requesting said deposition was not communicated to the undersigned or his attorney at the taking of said deposition. Said deposition wilfully ignored the key prescription of Canon 483 §2, the requirement for a priest notary to be present, where the ‘reputation of a priest‘ is being impugned, as was in the case of the undersigned. Upon completion of said deposition, the undersigned was not provided with a written transcript of the deposition, nor offered the opportunity to review said transcript, and present objections to the PRIEST NOTARY as NO priest notary was present as said deposition. Canon 1437 §1 states: ‘a notary is to be present at every hearing, so much so that acts are null unless signed by the notary. §2 Acts drawn up by notaries constitute public proof. This Canon was not observed with respect to said deposition. A further violation of procedure exists with regard to said deposition, sanctioned under the norms of Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela (SST), which prescribes in Article 14 of the ESSENTIAL NORMS of SST, ‘in the other tribunal’s dealing with cases under these norms, only PRIESTS, can validly carry out the functions of Judge, Promoter of Justice, Notary, and Patron [Procurator and Advocate]’.
5. The comments of the attorney W. Thomas McGough, Jr. acting on behalf of Archabbot Nowicki, where said attorney with malicious aforethought accused the undersigned of committing perjury under oath, represent a serious breach of the norms of the right to defence prescribed in Canon 1620. C.I.C. The assessment of Archabbot Nowicki’s attorney on ‘said deposition’ was: biased, partial, inaccurate, and displayed an unsurpassed mendacious malevolence. Such comment in the secular civil forum, would constitute an act of criminal defamation, and a violation of the Code of Conduct of the Pennsylvania State Bar. Said attorney within the context of said deposition brought the name of the penitent from the internal sacramental forum into the civil secular forum, as is evidenced in said deposition with the Acta of the Poenalis 341/2009.
Thus, said deposition was neither legal in the civil form, and was not valid within the canonical forum. Said deposition was an illegal attempt by Archabbot Nowicki to utilise the civil law of the State of Pennsylvania to give a veneer of credibility to a flawed process, to deliberately and maliciously subvert and mislead the judicial process of the CDF. The above outlined facts are testimony to a sustained and deliberate attack on the undersigned, damaging his good name in the secular forum. This, along with representing a biased, partial, and misleading interpretation, which is tantamount to an unparalleled and sustained violation of the right to defence prescribed under both the 1983 Code of Canon Law, and the procedural norms of Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela, which even the CDF with the power of sanation conferred upon said Dicastery by virtue of Article 18 of the Essential Norms of SST cannot sanate.
Fr. Mark F. Gruber O.S.B, Ph.D.
