The Archdiocese of Cincinnati and three of its parishes (Holy Family, St John the Evangelist, and St John the Baptist) filed suit in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Monday against a terminated employee and former business manager, Thomas Shaun Martin.

The archdiocese and the parishes seek the return of not less than $353,000 believed to have been embezzled by Martin, who had worked at each parish. Extensive, strengthened financial controls instituted by the archdiocese across all of its 214 churches led to the discovery, today’s lawsuit, and the archdiocese’s separate pursuit of criminal sanctions against Martin through county authorities.

Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr, pastors, church employees, and ministry volunteers are committed to employ all available safeguards to protect archdiocese assets and offerings. When those safeguards fail, the archdiocese will pursue restitution through all available civil and criminal means, spokesman Dan Andriacco said in a press release.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati is the 38th largest Catholic diocese in the country, with almost 500,000 Catholics, and has the seventh largest network of Catholic schools in terms of enrollment.  The 19-county territory includes 214 parishes and 114 Catholic primary and secondary schools.