Texas bishop sues priest, charges financial mismanagement : News Headlines - Catholic Culture:
In a highly unusual move, the outgoing Bishop of El Paso, Texas, has filed a lawsuit against one of his priests, charging him with misuse of parish funds......
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This is not unusual in the United States. In 2004 a Catholic diocese in Michigan sued one of its priests and an arrest warrant was issued for Fr. Bogdon Werra who was accused of embezzling more than $240,000 from the two parishes he was in charge of. When the Michigan State Police initiated an investigation Fr. Werra resigned from the Diocese. A case was charged after the investigation. Apparently Fr.Werra pleaded guilty and the judge sentenced him to 6 months in prison and ordered that he return the money to the diocese. Fr. Werra had come to this diocese from Poland. In Poland the parish priest has greater discretionary power over parish funds than in the U.S. Fr. Werra did not in fact steal the money from the parishes he served as pastor but spent the parish money without following established guidelines. For example, one of the unauthorized expenses was the purchase of air tickets for a few visitors from Poland. As pastor he believed that it was within his power to allocate funds for what he considered was appropriate. The diocese and the Bishop considered it embezzlement. Fr. Bogdon did spend 6 months in prison for this crime.
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