 In a long running dispute, Fr Speekman twice successfully appealed to the Congregation for the Clergy against the decree ordering his removal, but Coffey then appealed those decisions to the Apostolic Signatura.In 2011, the Vatican ruled finally in favour of Coffey, ending the eight-year battle where the parish was without a permanent priest.Under Coffey's leadership of the diocese, the Bishop's Family Foundation was established as a charitable body and has given more than 500,000 in support of families within the Gippsland diocese.