 Father Kuhn, who was the church's pastor at the time, attributed it to local poverty.However, others in the community reported as the cause anger by some local parents at Father Kuhn because in a dispute over direction and control of the parish school he fired the popular principal, Maureen Delaney, and three teachers in the middle of the school year.In the 1990s, the Sisters of Charity relinquished their ministry of the school.