Reverend Raymund M.

Reyes
Vicar of Clergy
Archdiocese of San Francisco

San Francisco, CA

March 11, 2019

Dear Father Reyes:

This is a formal complaint against one of the priests in your Archdiocese, Fr. Joseph Illo. There
is already a well documented turbulent history with Fr. Illo and the Star of the Sea School
community. He is pursuing his personal ambition of creating a unique school and parish for the
city of San Francisco. However, his methods have been unnecessarily destructive, abusive,
and hostile; and has decimated the student population at the school in the last two years.
Sadly, the departures of families have been under duress and convey a wrong impression to the
wider community of the true values of the Catholic Church. The remaining families at Star
continue their faith in the Catholic mission of the school and have been forced to tolerate Fr.
Illo’s lack of virtue and lack of integrity. In light of a recent incident at Star of the Sea, many
families now openly question the safety of the environment at the school and the qualifications
of Fr. Illo for the Office of Pastor at Star of the Sea. These issues are being formally brought to
your attention.

Incident at the March 7, 2019 State of the School Address

On Thursday, March 7th, Fr. Illo invited the parents of the school to attend the State of the
School Address. Over 60 parents attended the meeting. Given the confusing communications
from Fr. Illo about school closure, the combination of classes, and retention of teachers, many
families were understandably anxious about the future of the school and the future for their
children. The purpose of the Address was to answer questions from the parents and provide
clarity about the state of the school. However, instead of communicating compassionately and
working collaboratively, Fr. Illo’s inappropriate conduct and incompetence led many families to
question his capacity and temperament to be a leader of a school.

First, Fr. Illo lacks the ability to effectively lead and organize the work of the school. Fr. Illo’s
lack of preparation for such an important meeting became a catalyst that resulted in the public
eruption of frustration and chaos. Despite having three weeks to prepare for the Address, Fr.
Illo presented few substantive facts, no strategic plan, and no strategic vision. Furthermore, he
admitted to the parents that “he is not an educator” and yet proceeded to describe the positive
future of the school with the implementation of the new curriculum. A clear agenda and a
presentation which conveyed a vision of leadership could have easily avoided what later
transpired as the meeting ensued. Without an agenda, the meeting had no organized structure
and resulted in a chaotic meeting with families still feeling frustrated and anxious about the
future of the school.

Second, Fr. Illo does not possess the leadership ability to control his temperament under
pressure. Given the uncertainty of the state of the school, many parents were understandably
emotional. All of the parents were seeking information to guide them in their decision of
whether to stay at Star of the Sea School. Fr. Illo could not provide concrete answers to many
questions and some parents began to vent their frustrations. Yet, rather than being cool and
compassionate as required under the circumstances, Fr. Illo became angry and heated. He
lacks the tact of a Catholic Priest who is expected to be a respected parish leader with the
necessary leadership ability. His sarcasm, arrogance, and lack of professionalism only resulted
in elevating the tension in the room.

Thirdly, Fr. Illo lacks the integrity of morals and virtues required of a pastor. During the Address,
he attempted to instigate a fight. During the meeting, a mother directed several statements
towards Fr. Illo accusing him of being responsible for the decimation of the school. Later in the
meeting, Father Illo got up from his seat and began to walk in the direction of her husband. Fr.
Illo then aggressively stared at him in a manner that can only be described as attempting to
challenge the husband to a fight. Fr. Illo then sought to publicly humiliate the couple by
demanding that the husband order his wife to apologize to him for her previous comments. The
other people in the room responded audibly in shock at the behavior of the priest. Fortunately,
another parent was able to de-escalate the volatile situation. At this point, parents walked out in
disgust as Fr. Illo did not take any actions to calm or rectify the situation. Fr. Illo lacks the
proper temperament of a priest and school leader, cannot empathize with people’s frustration,
cannot work collaboratively with others, and cannot facilitate a community meeting. Instead of
assuaging families and inspiring them, Fr. Illo willfully chose to create conflict and enflame a
tense situation.

Finally, Fr. Illo has created an environment of fear at Star of the Sea School. After his act of
intimidation towards the parents at the State of the School Address, some families now fear to
provide feedback about the school for fear of retribution from Fr. Illo. His aggressive gestures
and intemperate conduct towards the couple at the meeting were threatening, intimidating, and
hostile. Seeing a priest, a mother, and a father all standing up and coming close to blows is a
scene that should never occur in any setting.

Request for an Investigation

We ask that you launch a formal investigation into the events of March 7, 2019 and use the data
collected to prevent this type of volatile situation from occurring again. An in-depth and
thorough investigation of this incident should include interviews with all of those at the meeting
including Star parents, other priests in attendance, and all former and current administrators,
staff, and faculty at Star of the Sea. The hostile conduct displayed is most definitely not an
isolated incident.
Several years ago, the intervention of having Fr. Vito on the school campus successfully limited
Fr. Illo’s involvement with the school and the community. For a period of time, the school was
thriving once again. Now, with the empowerment of Fr. Illo, we are back to the dangerous
setting with conflict and exodus. In a recent school-wide survey only 60 current families had
stated that they intended to return to Star. After the disturbing March 7th State of the School
Address, we know anecdotally that the final number will surely be much smaller.

As the Vicar of Clergy, we have faith in you to thoroughly follow up on this situation and
intervene. On March 25, 2015, you and Bishop Justice came to our school, listened, and
intervened with a great solution which saved our community from further abuse and destruction.
But that intervention has now been removed and the problems are more volatile than ever. We
hope and pray that you will urgently follow up on this serious event and dire situation before it
escalates any further.

*This report is being submitted by a collective group of parents from Star of the Sea who had
stated in our last survey that we wanted to return to the school. We now fear for the safety of
our children in the school after Fr. Illo’s behavior at the meeting and wish to remain anonymous
in submitting this document but will eagerly participate in a widespread investigation.