CAPE COD (MA)
Cape Cod Times
By AMANDA LEHMERT
STAFF WRITER
The Fall River Diocese will foreclose on the home of a priest alleged to have embezzled from two Cape churches, a diocese spokesman said yesterday.
The Rev. Bernard Kelly, who is scheduled to be in Barnstable Superior Court today to answer to criminal charges for the same incident, has been unable to sell his Cummaquid estate and horse barn in the year since he agreed to use the proceeds of the sale to pay a $1.3 million settlement to the diocese.
A diocese audit of financial records from St. Joseph's in Woods Hole and Our Lady of Lourdes in Wellfleet found that Kelly diverted $860,000 for his personal use, according to court papers.
''Parishes will be returned all the money misappropriated by Father Kelly plus interest,'' diocese spokesman John Kearns said.
Kelly was suspended and later retired from St. Joseph's in 2003, after questions emerged about his relationship with Paul Nolin, who was convicted of killing a Falmouth man.
Investigators alleged Kelly was having a sexual relationship with Nolin, reportedly a handyman at the church.