[laotzu]

Crime, and sin, are to be found everywhere there are humans.

This is an indictment of mankind; not The Church.

[Alex Murphy]

Rodney Lee Rodis, 50, now faces 13 counts of felony embezzlement. He's accused of stealing from his former parishes, St. Jude and Immaculate Conception Catholic churches. Police have said the thefts may have exceeded $1 million.

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[livius]

There's a priest here in Florida who had been embezzling for years, using the money to buy property in Ireland (his native country), IIRC. The guy had such chutzpah that when a new bishop took over and announced that he was going to have routine audits done at all churches in his diocese, the priest wrote to the bishop to say that he didn't want an audit because an audit would make it appear that the bishop didn't trust his priests! The audit was done anyway, and Father is now awaiting trial.

But of course you had the usual little old ladies and others who came forward and said, oh, but he was such a nice man. We all have our little failings...

The thing that always stuns me when these guys are caught, whether it's embezzling or something even more sordid, is how many of the parishioners immediately rush out to defend them.