Funny finances in parishes

WASHINGTON -- Fr. Rodney L. Rodis, 50, a retired priest of the Richmond, Va., diocese, has been indicted and arrested on charges that he embezzled at least $600,000 and possibly more than $1 million from St. Jude Parish in Mineral, Va., and Immaculate Conception Parish in Buckner, Va.

He had served the two parishes from 1993 until he took early retirement for health reasons last May. When he was arrested it was discovered that he had been living with a woman and three children in Fredericksburg, Va., since the mid-1990s.

Meanwhile, Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., cited persistent "financial mismanagement" as the reason he asked for and accepted the resignation of Fr. Michael Moynihan, 54, as pastor of St. Michael the Archangel Parish and St. Timothy Chapel in Greenwich, Conn.

Lori said that more than $500,000 in expenditures by the priest from a secret parish bank account "have proven difficult to support" with any evidence of what the money was used for. He praised Moynihan's 14 years of "dedicated, pastoral love" as a pastor in Greenwich, but said the financial mismanagement was severe and continued after warnings from the diocese.

A diocesan spokesman said Moynihan remains a priest in good standing in the diocese and will receive a new assignment.

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