Featured Post

It seems Pope Francis needs to brush up on his Tertullian!

It has been reported (in The ChristLast Media, I must note) that the current Pope does not like the phrase "lead us not into temptation...

"Let no freedom be allowed to novelty, because it is not fitting that any addition should be made to antiquity. Let not the clear faith and belief of our forefathers be fouled by any muddy admixture." -- Pope Sixtus III

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

The Catholic crackup continues apace.

I am sure Father Rodis knows there is a particularly nasty circle of Hell reserved for priests who violate their solemn vows. (If he does not repent and confess all his sins, he'll be able to ask Martin Luther what it's like in person!)

The Washington Times: Indicted priest denies dual lives
Fredericksburg, VA - A priest suspected of stealing more than $600,000 from two churches has denied accusations in court documents that he was living a double life as a family man in a neighboring county.

The Rev. Rodney L. Rodis, 50, acknowledged sharing the home with a woman and three girls but denied he was married and declined to say whether the children were his, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. Father Rodis also said the woman knew he was a Roman Catholic priest.

Father Rodis was indicted Jan. 8 on a felony embezzlement charge. A document included in papers committing him to jail listed him as living with a wife and three children in Fredericksburg. It was not clear from the documents whether Father Rodis is the children's father.

The Catholic Diocese of Richmond was surprised to hear about the living arrangements, diocese attorney William Etherington said. Neighbors in the subdivision where the family had lived for at least eight years also were surprised.

They said that Father Rodis referred to the woman as his wife and that one daughter appeared to be in her 20s, the second in her early teens and the third as young as 5. They also said that Father Rodis was often gone for days or weeks at a time and that he told them he was in the import-export business.

The Spotsylvania County real estate assessment Web site lists Joyce Sillador as the owner of the house, and neighbors said Father Rodis' wife's name is Joyce.

Nobody answered the phone at a number listed for the address.
The Most Rev. Francis X. DiLorenzo, bishop of the Richmond Diocese, has suspended Father Rodis' faculties, meaning he is not allowed to represent the diocese or perform priestly duties.

Father Rodis, a Philippine citizen, was pastor at St. Jude Catholic Church in Mineral, Va., and Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Bumpass, Va., both in Louisa County, until May, when he retired because of health problems.

An investigation began in November after church officials found that a donation to the parishes had not been recorded. Father Rodis reportedly set up a separate church bank account into which he funneled some donation money from September 2001 through October 2006, Mr. Etherington said.

Father Rodis appeared Thursday in Louisa General District Court, where he agreed to surrender his passport as part of an agreement in which his bond was reduced from $100,000 to $10,000.

He is scheduled to appear in court again Thursday. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

Father Rodis was ordained a priest in the Philippines in 1986 and has been living in the United States since 1991.

After coming to the Richmond Diocese, Father Rodis served as parochial vicar at St. Mark Catholic Church in Virginia Beach for one year, then as chaplain at Mary Immaculate Hospital in Newport News, Va., for a year before going to St. Jude and Immaculate Conception, parishes he had led since 1993.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Look Folks....
I have been a member of the parish Fr. Rodney served in Louisa County since 1994 when I moved here from Philadelphia. Fr. Rodney was an inspriation to me. He gave me and my family a new birth in the Catholic religion. (I have been a Catholic all my life - I am 46 years old now). When I lived up North, if I knew 3 families by name it was a lot. Down here at St. Jude we knew EVERYONE by name. We all worked together, teaching CCD, establishing a Knights of Columbus chapter, building a new sanctuary, all of this coordinated by and motivated by Fr. Rodney. While I cannot condone what he has been accused of doing recently, I can say that in all my life I have never met or been inspiried by a priest like Fr. Rodney. He made us all feel good about our involvement in the church. I won't ever take that away from him. Yes, it is quite shocking to find out about all of this new information, that I cannot deny, but like Fr. Lang said to us at Mass 2 Sunday's ago, you cannot forget the good that the man did for St. Jude church and Immaculate Conception church, and all of the lives that he touched in his tenure as priest to both churches...

TheChurchMilitant said...

Of course his good works should be remembered - even celebrated. However, they do not qualify him to be a Catholic priest.

I know plenty of good protestants who do marvelous works of charity for the greater glory of God, but I would not trust any of them with the care and nurturing of my immortal soul.

Just think for a minute about the mortal sins that may have been on Father R.'s soul at any time he said the words of consecration or heard confessions.

About Me

My photo
First of all, the word is SEX, not GENDER. If you are ever tempted to use the word GENDER, don't. The word is SEX! SEX! SEX! SEX! For example: "My sex is male." is correct. "My gender is male." means nothing. Look it up. What kind of sick neo-Puritan nonsense is this? Idiot left-fascists, get your blood-soaked paws off the English language. Hence I am choosing "male" under protest.

Labels

Blog Archive