Good Shepherd pantry chef Joe Capobianco has been fired by the Diocese of Fall River after more than a decade of service. Capobianco served as facilities manager for Good Shepherd Catholic Parish of Martha’s Vineyard and ran the parish pantry in addition to his facilities duties.
Tom Engley, a pantry volunteer and friend of Capobianco, said Capobianco went to what he thought was a typical monthly meeting on Wednesday and was surprised at the real reason for the meeting.
The Good Shepherd food distribution program takes place every other Saturday at Oak Bluffs Parish Church. Cars are often lined up in the nearby cemetery and the schedule was particularly busy at the height of the pandemic. It’s a no questions asked distribution program with food sourced from the Boston Food Bank.
Capobianco told The Times that he recently met with the Reverend Paul Fedak and, unexpectedly, someone from human resources at the diocese. Capobianco said Fedak first asked about the recent marriage of Capobianco’s son. He then told Capobianco that his job was dissolved.
“How was the wedding?” said Capobianco. “Your job is being cut.”
Capobianco said he had no idea the meeting was about ending his job with the church.
“I’m completely sick about this,” Capobianco said. Capobianco said he felt he was the subject of an orchestrated ambush to replace him with a “contractor assistant” he had previously fired, a woman named Sara Stigleman. Capobianco alleged that Stigleman was complicit in the ambush.
“She stabbed me in the back and took that position,” he said.
Stigleman could not be reached for comment.
Capbianco said his access to the Boston Food Bank and car insurance were almost instantly terminated after the meeting he had with Fedak and the HR person.
“It’s embarrassing,” he said. “I’m disgusted. I can’t sleep.
A Good Shepherd parish secretary referred all inquiries to the Diocese of Fall River. A spokesperson for the diocese had no immediate comment but said it was reviewing the situation and would get back to The Times.
Capobianco said it was not so much the loss of his job as the “disrespectful” treatment he claimed to have received that irritated him.
In a statement during a Sunday morning service at Vineyard Haven at St. Augustine’s Church, Fedak told parishioners that Capobianco was over. Fedak told parishioners that his predecessor, the Reverend Michael Nagle, held the position for 28 years. Fedak described it as unusually long and under normal circumstances three priests would have rotated through the parish, he said. When a new priest arrives, “often what follows are changes,” he said.
Fedak said he reviewed the employees and, after saying so, appointed Capobianco and used his former title, facilities manager. “…I made the decision after praying for a year that the parish would not need a facilities manager. This post has therefore been deleted.
Fedak noted that Capobianco also runs the pantry.
“But we also have Sara Stigleman, who has worked with Joe for several months,” Fedak said. “She even has a CDL license. She can drive a heavy truck. And so last week she was able to go to the Boston Food Bank, pick up the food, get it on the boat, get it off the boat, bring it back, unload it, and with the volunteers that showed up, we have able to serve 120 boxes of fresh food to those in need. And so we want to let you know that part, we have complete confidence in Sara. And also Alicia Nicholson, whose president of this cooperative, knows that we want to continue and we have her full support – the parish will continue to do what she has been doing.
The Times could not reach Nicholson for comment Monday and could not leave a voicemail because his mailbox was full.
Capobianco also ran a Thursday meal program and Fadak said that would also continue, but without Capobianco.
“And also with meals on Thursdays, during the winter, in January and February and March. We will continue as I have already mentioned. We have several parishioners who are ready to cook. We have parishioners, God bless them all, they put the salad in the salad bowl. But we also have parishioners who are ready to cook the food. And maybe they give a little direction, what needs to be done… We also want to thank Joe for his 11 years of service in the parish – for that – we can see that we need to move forward in some areas.
Capobianco said he served the church for 13 years.
“I want the community to know how the church treated one of its employees after 13 years,” Capobianco said.
On Saturday, volunteer Tom Engley picketed the food distribution line at Good Shepherd Parish in Oak Bluffs. Engley told The Times he was a colleague and friend of Capobianco.
“It’s not fair,” Engley said. “I mean, that’s why I’m here.”
Engley made it clear that he in no way wanted to discourage people from coming for food. He was protesting what had happened to Capobiancio.
“We distributed maybe half a million pounds of food working together,” Engley said. “He was a friend of mine…I’m not even Catholic, I’m Methodist, but this cause was so great – that’s why I’m here.”
Engley went on to say, “In my opinion, they were trying to get rid of him. They tried to offer him a severance package and he didn’t accept it. Unfair. He never got along with the new priest.
Engley described Capobianco as a sexton like him, Engley is a sexton for Martha’s Vineyard United Methodist Church.
“I support Joe and the Capobianco family,” Engley said. “He started the Good Shepherd parish food basket program.”
Comments are closed.