A San Diego County bishop is accused of pocketing $200,000 in cash that a congregation member says he handed over to fund a remodeling project at a Syriac Catholic church in El Cajon. The civil lawsuit names Yousif Abdulmasih, also identified as Bishop Marnaba Yousif Habash, as the defendant, alleging he collected the money and never turned it over to the parish it was meant to help.
The suit was filed by Hani Toma, a member of Our Mother of Perpetual Help Syriac Catholic Church, according to 10News. Toma agreed to donate $200,000 after the bishop told him the church needed remodeling but lacked the funds and relied on donations to get the work done, per the outlet's reporting.
Toma wanted his contribution to remain anonymous, the station reports, and the bishop collected the $200,000 in cash at Toma's workplace on June 8. But according to the lawsuit, the donation never actually reached the church — the outlet notes that no such donation had ever come in, and a priest at the church reportedly told Toma the parish had always had enough of its own money to complete the remodeling.
Lawsuit Seeks Return of Funds Plus Damages
Toma is now suing for the return of the $200,000, plus additional damages, with the lawsuit accusing the bishop of keeping the money for personal use, the station's report states. The church has declined to comment on the lawsuit, and the outlet said it was unable to reach the bishop for a response. Per the same account, the bishop has since left California for Michigan.
El Cajon police said they are not involved in the case and found no criminal filing against the bishop, according to the outlet's reporting — meaning, at least for now, this remains a civil dispute rather than a criminal prosecution. The Syriac Catholic Eparchy of Our Lady of Deliverance, which Habash has led as eparch since Pope Benedict XVI appointed him in April 2010 according to Wikipedia, moved its primary cathedral seat to St. Toma Syriac Catholic Cathedral in Farmington Hills, Michigan, in 2022, after Pope Francis approved the move on July 1, 2022, as reported by Detroit Catholic, which now serves as the eparchy's national headquarters.
Civil Remedies Available Under California Law
Because no criminal charges have been filed, Toma's path to recovering the money runs through civil court. California law offers plaintiffs in cases involving converted or stolen funds a potentially steep remedy: the state Supreme Court affirmed in Siry Investment, L.P. v. Farkhondehpour that victims of fraudulent cash diversion can recover treble damages and legal fees under Penal Code Section 496(c), according to Justia. Separately, California Civil Code Section 3294 allows plaintiffs alleging breach of fiduciary duty or conversion to pursue punitive damages if they can show clear and convincing evidence of fraud or oppression, per legal analysis from the Underwood Law Firm.
A Tight-Knit Community Already on Edge
The allegations land in a community still absorbing a separate case involving Eastern Rite Catholic leadership in El Cajon. Former Chaldean Catholic Bishop Emanuel Shaleta of St. Peter Chaldean Catholic Cathedral was arrested at San Diego International Airport and charged with 16 embezzlement and money-laundering counts over an alleged scheme involving roughly $272,000, the Associated Press reported in March, noting he pleaded not guilty to 17 felony counts at arraignment. Hoodline previously detailed the rent-cash scheme tied to that case.
El Cajon is home to a Chaldean community, and many families fled religious persecution in Iraq and Syria, according to The Southern Cross. Our Mother of Perpetual Help and St. Peter Cathedral operate under separate Eastern Catholic jurisdictions that remain in full communion with Rome, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The Syriac Catholic Eparchy of Our Lady of Deliverance, established by Pope St. John Paul II in 1995, encompasses eight U.S. states and serves approximately 16,000 Syriac Catholics, per Catholic-Hierarchy.
The two allegations are legally distinct — one involving criminal charges and a 17-count arraignment, the other a civil claim in which police have found no criminal case — but together they've put fresh scrutiny on how donations move through the region's Eastern Rite parishes at a moment when the community is already grappling with one prelate's prosecution.
