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.
"By the way, I heard that PS owns Peters Way Travel so that is why he charged $1,000 more than other travel agencies."
Unbelievable! This guy is a professional scammer with a finger in every pie.
When does he get kicked out of your Diocese?
That may have been the reason for extending his visit to Rome--to get official approval to move there and hide from American authorities.
No doubt setting up a villa for himself and Nicky out in the Roman hills. Complete with hot tub.
Lord knows, he's fleeced enough naive Catholics over the years to build up quite a retirement fund!
I just heard that "taxachusettsman" may be PMS himself. He posted in support of PMS on this thread. Read his other posts on FR; very arrogant, obviously well educated in church matters....just a rumor....
Very interesting.
You just heard or you just guessed? I think you're wrong. It's not him.
That is interesting. Maybe if he is watching, he might take the hint. Probably just wishful thinking on my part. Anyway, thanks for the update.
ping
pastas
Here's the official announcement . Just another FYI. Check out the 6th paragraph .
Parish gets new pastor
BY CHRISTOPHER BURBACH
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Omaha Archbishop Elden Curtiss has assigned an archdiocese official as pastor at south Omaha's St. Anthony Catholic Church, taking over for a priest who has been at the center of a parish controversy.
The archbishop assigned the Rev. Greg Baxter to become pastor of St. Anthony's, 32nd and S Streets, effective Aug. 11. He is to replace the Rev. Peter Stravinskas, who has led St. Anthony for three years.
Baxter, formerly chancellor of the archdiocese, is now its moderator of the curia.
Stravinskas' tenure has been marked by strife in the historically Lithuanian parish, including parishioners' reporting an alleged theft of parish funds to police after an archdiocesan audit of parish finances reportedly showed irregularities.
A police investigation into the theft report has not resulted in any charge.
Stravinskas is to leave the Archdiocese of Omaha effective Aug. 11 for a new assignment, said the Rev. Ryan Lewis, vice chancellor of the archdiocese, reading from a prepared statement.
Lewis declined to comment further. The statement noted that Stravinskas is officially a priest of the Diocese of Boise, Idaho, and that he has served as St. Anthony's temporary administrator for three years.
Curtiss had brought Stravinskas, an internationally known author about the Catholic faith, to Omaha from Pennsylvania.
Stravinskas could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Mike Fabian, declined to comment.
Reached at the chancery Thursday, Baxter declined to comment on the St. Anthony's controversy. He said he is sad to be leaving the people of St. Adalbert's, a south Omaha parish he has served for six years, but looks forward to maintaining those friendships.
"I am very happy to be going to St. Anthony parish to serve the good people of that community," Baxter said. "I know that the people of St. Anthony will work with me to keep the parish moving forward and will understand the commitment I have as moderator."
Sorry to throw a wet blanket on the victory party, but read the LAST paragraph!
TRANSLATION: St. Anthony's now has a "pastor" who will be there to say Mass on Sunday and that's about it.
Party on, dudes!
I have never been one to impart my opinion on anything . I am new to this whole blog thing . It seems to me that the opposing view has been very pithy in comments and down right abusive , while the lithuanians comments have been stated in self defense .
I have never been one to impart my opinion on anything . I am new to this whole blog thing . It seems to me that the opposing view has been very pithy in comments and down right abusive , while the lithuanians comments have been stated in self defense .
You know, I thought you were done listening to all of us ghetto hypocrites, as you claim we are . I know these aren't the exact words. You're right we are getting a new priest to say mass, but at least he will respect the people of the parish not look down his nose on people who don't agree with his ideas and underhanded practices, like the other guy. Hope you enjoy the new assignment.
I am sorry about that , that was my wife she gets a little emotional .
The new assignment? What is it?
Will the new priest actually live in the rectory there at St. Anthony's?
Labas is aciu!
Note that my post has two separate paragraphs, thus two separate thoughts.
As for my 'true colors', you must be referring to my opposing viewpoint. Why so bitter? You got what you wanted.
Will you still have a Lithuanian Mass? Is the new priest fluent?
I'm sure we'll have some type of Lithuanian mass (some of the prayers in lithuanian, songs, readings), but that shouldn't concern you, it never has before. Besides, we don't have a lithuanian mass now, so anything more than we have now, with our native language, would be great. Drop us a postcard from the "new assignment". Then again, don't bother.
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