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	Catholics Left with Questions after Priest Is Accused of Theft By Calvin R. Trice Richmond Times-Dispatch January 15, 2007 http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle &c=MGArticle&cid=1149192655951&path=!news&s=1045855934842 Buckner -- The sacraments performed by a priest who has been accused of embezzlement are still valid, a church official told Louisa County Catholics yesterday. The Rev. Mark R. Lane said Mass for two rural parishes that police suspect were robbed of at least $600,000 by the priest who served them. Their former pastor, the Rev. Rodney L. Rodis, also was found to be living in Spotsylvania County with a woman he told neighbors is his wife. Lane, vicar for clergy with the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, said Mass for hundreds at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Buckner and St. Jude Catholic Church in Mineral. In Buckner, he gave a homily about dealing with the pain from embarrassment, and he urged prayers for Rodis and his loved ones. After each service, Lane and other diocesan representatives remained to field parishioners' questions on a broad range of spiritual, organizational and financial issues. Lane told about 120 parishioners at Immaculate Conception that a woman approached him in tears wondering whether her baby's baptism was valid if allegations against Rodis prove true. He assured her that it was, he said. "The efficaciousness of the sacraments is not dependent on the priest or the deacons," he said. "It is only dependent on Christ himself." The two parishes are part of the Richmond diocese, and in recent years they have been served by one pastor who ordinarily would say Sunday Mass at the two churches. Two other diocesan representatives came with Lane to the churches in response to the indictment of Rodis, a beloved pastor who led the two parishes for 16 years before retiring in May. Church officials said he diverted donation money intended for the two churches into a bank account he set up in the church's name, for which he was the only signatory. After each service, John F. Barrett, the diocese's director of finance, and Crystal LaVoie Lang, the controller, urged parishioners to get copies of canceled checks they made out to the churches. Officials allege that Rodis deposited parishoners' donations at a bank in Fredericksburg to which he was a frequent visitor. If their checks were canceled by that bank, the money was diverted to Rodis' account, Barrett said. Lane read to both congregations a letter from the Most Rev. Francis X. DiLorenzo, diocesan bishop, in which he offered prayers and committed to seeking restitution through the criminal case. The parishes could recover some money from insurance, though finance officials don't know how much. The bank account that Rodis is accused of diverting money to had less than $150 by the time authorities got to it, Lang told the congregations. Several people at both churches asked why no one was told about the investigation during the months leading up to last week's indictment and why they learned of the case through media reports. Barrett said diocesan officials worked under strict confidence so that the case against Rodis would not be compromised. And Rodis, a Philippine national, had a passport for that country. He went back to the Philippines after he retired in June, but he returned to the United States to be treated for prostate cancer, church officials said in the Catholic Virginian, a diocesan newspaper. "We were afraid that if [Rodis] took flight to the Philippines, we would not get him back," Barrett said at Immaculate Conception. A woman at St. Jude was upset that her child learned about the case from someone at school. Lane told the church members that the diocese will send a church expert to work with youths. Rodis formed an especially close bond with the children in the parishes, members said. "They need to know how to respond to this in a healthy way," Lane said. "We need not be ashamed at what happened." St. Jude was $41,000 away from retiring mortgage debt. Immaculate Conception needed $10,000 to pay off its debt, yesterday's church bulletin showed. Church members said their finance councils were not aware of rules the diocese has about handling money. The diocese is working on a fraud hot line that any member will be able to call to report suspicions of financial misdeeds, officials said. Otherwise, the diocese will have to devise a way to handle money in a way that balances security with trust, Barrett said. "We're going to have to come up with a process that protects the parishes but doesn't indict the reputation of all the priests," he said. Barrett said he believes that Sunday collections were the only funds that Rodis didn't handle exclusively. Bill Ibinson, a Mineral resident who is a member of Immaculate Conception, said he thinks the diocese is responding to the situation the best way it could. "I hope they take some of our suggestions. I think that's important," Ibinson said. Immaculate Conception now requires two people to be present when donations are collected from a post office lock box. St. Jude member Dorothy Mitchell is still mystified by what could have happened to more than $600,000 allegedly stolen during the five years covering the indictment, beginning in September 2001. Rodis seemed to live as a pauper who never dressed nicely and frequently donned sandals or sneakers, said Mitchell, who lives in Trevilians. She said she once gave him $20 when he ran out of gas. "Was he acting alone? Was he funneling money to someone?" Mitchell asked. "Why don't people start looking into that?" She and parishioner Kathleen Pfeiffer recalled with bitter irony Rodis' most memorable refrain: "Be a good person." At. St. Peter's Catholic Church in downtown Richmond yesterday morning, the Rev. Robert A. Brownell talked about how Christians should respond to the situation in Louisa County. "The people in the Louisa parish they're my family. That woman, those children -- they're my family," he said. "Be forgiving -- not to say wrong is right but to say I am able to be part of this fellowship." Contact staff writer Calvin R. Trice at ctrice@timesdispatch.com or (540) 574-9977. Times-Dispatch Deputy News Editor Mary Anne Pikrone contributed to this report.
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