Posted on 04/16/2005 11:24:59 PM PDT by CatherineSiena
A noted Catholic thinker who was brought in to run St. Anthony Catholic Church in south Omaha allegedly spent more than $400,000 in 1 and 1/2 years - at a small parish that normally spent about $50,000 a year.
Police are investigating the Rev. Peter Stravinskas' handling of St. Anthony's parish funds after parishioners filed a report of a possible embezzlement. Detectives have told a judge it appears parish money was spent on Stravinskas' personal expenses, including travel, mortgage payments and credit cards.
In a court filing last month, Omaha police said two parish funds - one worth $82,000 and the other worth $71,000 - were nearly wiped out. Only $4,200 remained from the $153,000 total, detectives told a judge.
But The World-Herald learned this week that those funds represented only part of St. Anthony's savings.
And people knowledgeable about the situation said the money taken from those accounts was only part of a larger amount spent from August 2002, when Stravinskas arrived, until March 2004, when the Archdiocese of Omaha froze parish funds.
Stravinskas has not been charged with a crime and remains St. Anthony's temporary administrator. He has declined to comment. He was scheduled to return Friday night from a trip to Rome, said the Rev. Nicholas Gregoris, who answered the door at the rectory Friday.
The Rev. Gregory Baxter, chancellor of the archdiocese, declined to comment, citing the police investigation.
Police have declined to comment on the extent of Stravinskas' alleged misspending.
Church financial records published in parish documents indicate, however, that St. Anthony had $313,000 in savings in January 2002. It is unclear what that total was when Stravinskas arrived that summer, but parishioners said St. Anthony had no extraordinary expenses before Stravinskas came.
The parish typically brought in about $50,000 a year and spent that much, said Albinas Reskevicius, a parish trustee for nearly 40 years until early 2003. He said he had no knowledge of parish spending since that time.
Omaha Archbishop Elden Curtiss brought Stravinskas, 54, to Omaha from Mount Pocono, Pa. A clerical group Stravinskas had founded there, the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, had been disbanded.
Stravinskas has written numerous books and founded magazines, the Catholic Answer and the Catholic Response, defending traditional Roman Catholic teachings.
Stravinskas, a native of New Jersey, is a priest of the Diocese of Boise, Idaho, but hasn't worked there in 25 years.
Stravinskas shares Lithuanian ancestry with many of the St. Anthony parishioners, but there has been no more explanation of why such a noted priest landed in a shrinking neighborhood parish.
Curtiss declined to be interviewed Friday about the parish's finances or about how he knows Stravinskas or why he brought him to Omaha.
In a May 2002 sermon, the archbishop praised Stravinskas as "a first-rate scholar with a rich academic background," and "a herald of truth in the church."
Curtiss delivered the sermon in New York City to mark the 25th anniversary of Stravinskas' ordination.
"Now that I am 70, I will be fortunate to be associated with you and your ministry for another decade," Curtiss said. "You are a special priest and a special friend to me and many people who really know you. I consider you a gift in my ministry and in my life."
In Omaha, Stravinskas registered the Priestly Society of the Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman as a Nebraska nonprofit, based at the St. Anthony rectory.
Stravinskas also hired a contractor to renovate parish buildings. Contractor Mark Warsocki said the priest paid him and others to do $126,000 in work.
In the church, Warsocki said, he installed a marble floor in the sanctuary, painted the ceiling and repaired the tabernacle area.
Stravinskas wanted to convert the rectory, a former convent, into a more comfortable residence for himself, Gregoris and a seminarian, Warsocki said. They felt cramped in 9-by-13-foot rooms where nuns once lived, the contractor said.
He built a three-room suite for Stravinskas, plus a library, in the rectory's unfinished basement.
Warsocki installed new flooring, a patio door, windows, a wine rack and a deck on the rectory's main floor, he said, and converted four second-floor sleeping rooms into two living suites with individual bathrooms.
Warsocki said Stravinskas also had hired him to create two more living suites. But Warsocki said Stravinskas stopped the work on Good Friday 2004, after the archdiocese audit. The contractor said he had $16,000 worth of labor left to do.
Warsocki described the work as needed and not lavish. He said Stravinskas had him buy materials from home improvement stores with the priest's personal credit card.
Warsocki said he undercharged because of inexperience and a desire to improve a parish where his grandfather and father had belonged.
Here is where the money of the faithful is going in my home diocese:
PRESS RELEASE
RE: Settlement of Sexual Molestation Suit
Date: May 5, 2005
From the Law Office of James Bendell
The defendants in the case of Doe vs. Diocese of Scranton, the Society of St. John, the Fraternity of St. Peter and Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity and Fr. Eric Ensey (U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Case No. 3 CV 02-0444) have agreed to a settlement with the plaintiff, a former student of St. Gregory’s Academy in Moscow, Pennsylvania.
Under the terms of the settlement the defendants will pay the plaintiff $255,000 in cash and future periodic payments of $199,550, for a total settlement of $454,550.
During the course of the litigation of this case, information was brought to light concerning the corruption existing at the Society of St. John, a clerical association approved by former bishop James Timlin, who allowed these priests to form a clerical association in the Diocese of Scranton and to act as chaplains at a boys’ prep school after they had been expelled from the Society of St. Pius X. The new bishop of Scranton, Joseph Martino, has since suppressed the Society of St. John.
This large financial settlement is a vindication of the courageous young man who brought this case.
The plaintiff was represented by attorneys James Bendell of Washington State, and Harry Coleman of Pennsylvania.
Is that a fact????? Did you take a poll on this??? Or are you talking about your little group????
Jadwiga,
God Bless you
See post 86 for current articles.
Didn't ancilla educate you about libel?
If Mrs. D. gave them a Lithuanian dictionary or if she is the GS, she better teach them spelling better.
In case the moderator is concerned, the are using Lithuanian cuss words.
Omaha, just as in Scranton. Perhaps not exactly "thrown out". Bishops have a more polite way of doing things than bouncers do.
Wednesday, June 01, 2005 Current Encores | Archive Printer Version
FR. PETER STRAVINSKAS IN HOT WATER [ Patrick Madrid ] 6 Comment(s)
6/1/2005 5:22:39 PM
This whole story is just plain weird. Fr. Peter Stravinskas -- yes, that Fr. Peter Stravinskas -- has become embroiled in an investigation regarding accusations that he misappropriated parish funds for personal use.
Omaha Archbishop Elden Curtiss has told a priest whose handling of a south Omaha parish's money is under police investigation that he should leave the Omaha Archdiocese.
The Rev. Peter Stravinskas remains temporary administrator of St. Anthony Catholic Church, 32nd and S Streets. But Curtiss has reported to a gathering of archdiocesan priests that he "suggested to Father Peter (Stravinskas) that he needed to locate in another diocese," according to minutes of the gathering.
Stravinskas, a noted Catholic author and defender of the faith's traditions, is not a priest of the Omaha Archdiocese. Technically, he is a priest of the Diocese of Boise, Idaho, although he has not served there for many years. . . .
Curtiss declined to be interviewed. He said through the Rev. Gregory Baxter, chancellor of the archdiocese, that he would have no comment until after the Omaha police complete their investigation.
Reached by telephone at St. Anthony's rectory, Stravinskas declined to comment on Curtiss' report to fellow clerics or the police investigation.
The St. Anthony issue came up in a May 3 meeting Curtiss had with more than 20 archdiocesan priests. Curtiss' remarks about having told Stravinskas that he needs to locate in another diocese were included in meeting minutes that have circulated in the archdiocese. The minutes did not mention when Stravinskas might leave Omaha.
Jennifer Timmins, a member of St. Anthony's parish council who launched a Web site in his defense, said she didn't know if Stravinskas will leave but hopes he doesn't. Do we want him to leave? Absolutely not," Timmins said. "Do we think he's innocent? Absolutely yes. Father Stravinskas does what he preaches. He teaches solid Catholic doctrine and dogma, and he also provides the example. He's a good, holy Catholic priest."
For nearly two months Omaha Police Department detectives have been investigating other parishioners' report of alleged embezzlement of parish funds. Among other things, they served three search warrants March 30 on the St. Anthony's rectory and archdiocesan offices, seizing records and a computer, and gaining access to the computer's contents.
Police declined to comment on the investigation except to say that it remains active. . . .
A judge granted police access to records of a Wells Fargo account belonging to Newman House, a priests organization headed by Stravinskas, according to Douglas County District Court records.
In applying for the earlier search warrants, police had testified under oath that records showed money from St. Anthony's accounts appeared to have been used for Stravinskas' personal expenses, including mortgage, travel expenses, and credit cards.
Coming to a Diocese near you soon:
The Father Peter Stravinskas Traveling Shell Game,
with his loyal sidekick, Nick Gregoris.
Thrown out of excellent dioceses all over America!
See: Marble covered floors! See: The jacuzzi in the rectory!! See: The handsome seminarians!!!!
But HOLD ONTO YOUR WALLETS!
So answer the question !!!!
I wouldn't worry about what he/she (jadvyga) says, if it's who I think it is they weren't very active in going to church or going to any Lithuanian functions before the administrator and will disappear again after he leaves !!!
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