http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/12/04/2009-12-04_ailing_rev_removed_from_post.html

Ailing priest removed from Staten Island parish

BY Christina Boyle
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Friday, December 4th 2009, 4:00 AM

An ailing priest has been removed from his job in a Staten Island parish and ordered to return to his native Philippines after taking time off for lifesaving dialysis.

The Archdiocese of New York said it cannot take responsibility for the Rev. Eusebio Pablito Maghari's welfare after he suffered kidney failure as a result of his diabetes in September.

Church officials claim he can no longer perform his godly duties at St. Peter's Church - and he was terminated from his post as assistant priest Tuesday.

Maghari, 59, said he is fit to work and hopes to fight the move to send him home because dialysis treatment in the Southeast Asian nation is too expensive.

"I can't go home to the Philippines without a kidney transplant," he said. "Dialysis is more than $1,000 a week."

The archdiocese said the decision to wash its hands of Maghari is not malicious, but routine when a priest goes to work in a different parish and becomes sick.

It says St. Peter's parish is unable to cater to Maghari's dietary and medical needs and mobility issues, and it is his bishop's duty to care for him.

"We want what's best for Father Pablito," said Joseph Zwilling, spokesman for the archdiocese

cboyle@nydailynews.com