Indicted Priest, Woman Mailed Christmas Cards with Address Labels Implying They Were Wed
By Pamela Gould
Free Lance-Star [Fredericksburg VA]
January 15, 2007
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2007/012007/01152007/250954
Neighbors of Rodney L. Rodis and Joyce F. Sillador say they had no reason to suspect the pair was anything but a nice couple with three daughters.
The two invited people into their home for parties at Christmas and on the girls' birthdays.
They sent out Christmas cards signed, "Love, Rodney, Joyce and girls."
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| Rodney Rodis |
They even had printed address labels reading "Rodney and Joyce Rodis" with their street address on Watson Lane in the Sheraton Hills East community of Spotsylvania County.
It would all seem completely unremarkable except for one thing--Rodney Lee Rodis was a Catholic priest.
His double life--as a family man in Spotsylvania County and a Catholic priest in Louisa County--came to light over the past week following his indictment on a felony charge of embezzlement.
Rodis, 50, is accused of steal-ing an estimated $600,000 from the two Louisa churches he served for more than a decade--St. Jude in Mineral and Immaculate Conception in Buckner.
Attempts to get comment from Rodis or Sillador at the home or via telephone were unsuccessful yesterday.
Neighbors remained in disbelief, six days after the indictment. Several spoke yesterday but asked to remain anonymous.
"I've seen weaker scripts than this on TV," one neighbor said yesterday. He and his wife had been searching for some way to comprehend the sudden shift in realities.
In trying to reconcile what they had known with what they had now learned of Rodis, they admitted they were left with few options.
The best they could muster was: Does he have a twin?
"That's how mind-boggling it is," said the man.
Neighbors interviewed yesterday spoke of a "nice family" and had nothing ill to say of Rodis or Sillador.
They expressed sympathy and shock, and spoke of the three well-behaved girls who were estimated to range from elementary-school age to college age.
Sillador and Rodis appear to have lived together for more than a dozen years.
According to an online public records search, Sillador bought their current home in June 1994 for $115,000. Records show Rodis living there as of July 1994.
Those records show Sillador as both Joyce F. Sillador and Joyce Sillador Rodis.
Rodney Rodis told a reporter for a Richmond newspaper Saturday that the two are not married. He also said Sillador knew he was a priest prior to his indictment.
In what may help explain how Rodis could be both a priest and a family man, records show him using a post office box address in Mineral for the same dates he apparently lived at the Spotsylvania address.
Public records also show Rodis and Sillador may have shared an address as early as the summer of 1992 in New Jersey.
According to information from neighbors and online research, Sillador, now 44, has worked as a nurse, first being licensed in New Jersey.
More than one neighbor said Rodis claimed to be in the import-export business. One person thought he had a shop in Charlottesville.
One neighbor spoke of the renovations Rodis and Sillador made to their home--tearing down a wall between the kitchen and dining room and then installing hardwood floors, new kitchen cabinets and new appliances.
Neighbors said Rodis traveled to his native Philippines, and one thought he also traveled fairly often to Europe.
"We figured he must be doing pretty well [financially] with the traveling," she said.
She also noted that parties were always catered.
"They did live pretty high," she said.
But she said that was nothing compared with the plans Rodis had shared with her.
He said he planned to return to his native Philippines when Sillador retired in a few years. There he wanted to build a big house, run for mayor and, eventually, for president.
Even with that information, the woman felt she was not well-informed about the household.
"I don't think anybody knew any more than we did, and we knew very little," she said.
Neighbors seemed less disturbed by the pending legal issue than the fact that Rodis was a priest--a role in which the Catholic faith traditionally requires singleness.
"It's not a crime for someone to be married, but I imagine there might be some people mad at him over that," Louisa Commonwealth's Attorney R. Don Short told The Associated Press on Saturday.
The Catholic Diocese of Richmond was surprised to hear about Rodis' living arrangements, diocese lawyer William Etherington told a reporter.
The Richmond paper reported that Francis X. DiLorenzo, bishop of the Richmond Diocese, has suspended Rodis' faculties, meaning Rodis is not allowed to represent the diocese or perform priestly duties.
Rodis served as pastor of the two Louisa churches from 1993 until May, when he retired because of health reasons, Etherington said.
Virginia State Police began investigating Rodis in November after a parishioner made a donation but didn't get a receipt.
The investigation is continuing and the dollar figure has continued growing, state police Sgt. Kevin Barrick said last week. He said the alleged embezzlement dates from September 2001 through October of 2006.
Rodis was arrested last Tuesday and then released on bond after he surrendered his passport. He is scheduled for a court hearing on Thursday. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Rodis was ordained a priest in the Philippines in 1986 and has lived in the U.S. since 1991, according to the AP. He served as parochial vicar at St. Mark Catholic Church in Virginia Beach for one year and then as chaplain at Mary Immaculate Hospital in Newport News before moving to the Louisa churches.
"To me, how can someone live a double life for so long?" one neighbor wondered yesterday. "It's a movie script kind of thing."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
To reach Pamela Gould: 540/735-1972
Email: pgould@freelancestar.com
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