Posted on 04/24/2014 6:37:00 PM PDT by Gamecock
A Catholic priest in Michigan has been charged with stealing thousands of dollars from a church in Troy, including money donated by the family of a dead parishioner.
Reverend Edward Belczak and another church administrator were indicted for theft of $700,000 from the St. Thomas More Church in Troy and the Archdiocese of Detroit between 2004 and 2012, The Detroit News reported. The pair allegedly concealed the theft by forging documents to the Archdiocese that showed the parish's expenses to be a lesser amount than it really was.
Belczak, 69, and his accomplice, 67-year-old Janice Verschuren, face several charges including conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, according to the indictment released Wednesday. Both face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty, the newspaper reported.
The money included donations given on Mother's and Father's Day, as well as a $350,000 donation to the church from the relatives of a parishioner who passed away.
Supporters of Belczak, described as a popular priest who has touched many lives, are not convinced of his guilt. He has been a pastor for over 30 years.
"He's presumed innocent and the conclusion is he is innocent," Jerome Sabbota, the priest's attorney, told The Detroit News. "We haven't seen any evidence. All we hear are allegations."
The priest reportedly used some of the stolen funds to pay for a $500,000 condominium in Wellington, Florida several years ago. Prosecutors placed the condo under a forfeiture suit two days before the indictment, the newspaper reported.
The Archdiocese did not offer specific details about the pending case against Belczak and Verschuren, but the two have not worked at the parish in over a year.
"The archdiocese will continue to cooperate with authorities as this matter moves through the courts," Archdiocese spokesman Joe Kohn told the newspaper in a statement. "As such, there is nothing more the archdiocese can or will say at this stage in the proceedings."
In the meantime, Belczak continues to serve other churches in the area, according to The Detroit News.
We sure are. 876,708 which includes baptisms and adult converts for 2012 the last year we have data. Just this week the Roman Catholic Church brought in 13,288 during Easter in the major Archdiocese around the nation. This figure doesn’t include those who converted who attend the smaller parishes. We’re getting good returns on our investments.
I am a Christian. Go ahead and attack me but not the wealth of churches. That tells me all I need to know.
Well I am glad to hear that. It is good news. If that wealth is helping do all that then by all means go get em.
for the record, check out these mega churchs and check out the Mormon Tabernacle.....
you seem to forget that much of the Vatican is of huge historical value....
or I guess you would advocate tearing down the Leaning tower of Pisa to plant corn for the poor?
Reverend is the correct term. Except we always addressed them as Father.
Jesus had no where to lay His head.
What's with the extravagant wealth of the Vatican to begin with?
Where did Jesus ever justify that?
Then what business is it of Catholics what non-Catholic churches and mega churches and pastors do?
And yet there's no shortage of opinion from Catholics themselves about those outside Catholicism.
Why don't Catholics practice what they preach? Or is it *Rules for thee but not for me*?
THAT's what I'm wondering about.
Thanks for the ping; post. Hang the scumbags after all of their assets are seized. SHEESH!
He should have become a bishop first. Preferably archbishop of Milwaukee. Then he could have stolen $450,000 to give to his boyfriend.
All Catholic priests, except Monsignors, are called “Father” in the second or third person. “Is Fr. Smith home?” “Hi, Fr. Smith.”
In the third person, they are also called, “Reverend,” as in “The Reverend John Smith, pastor of Saint Mary’s Church.”
Catholics do not speak of a priest as “the reverend,” as in “is the reverend in his office?”
Catholics speak of “the pastor,” as in “the pastor ripped out our beautiful high altar,” but they do not say, “Pastor Smith gave a beautiful sermon.”
Yes.
Poor suckers...Apparently to pay for the prayers to get someone out of purgatory...What a racket...
Has anyone ever found Luther's dogma of "the Bible ALONE" in the Bible?
It's all over the bible...That why people who read the bible, know it...
You got that right!
Last night at my parish there was a special parish finacial issues meeting and the guy that heads the parish finacial commitee, talked about how the archdiocese keeps a close eye on finacial budgets of all the parishes in the archdiocese. I wonder if the diocese this parish was in had any structure at all.
Speaking about “rackets”, the BIBLE ALONE thing believed by Luther is a BIG RACKET in itself.
Please provide the source for that statement.
<crickets>
This should make your day:
There has been an increase in converts:
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