Case against Louisa County Priest Charged with Embezzlement Could Make Its Way to Vatican
By Bill Freehling
Free Lance-Star [Virginia]
January 17, 2007
http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2007/012007/01172007/251665
The case against a priest accused of embezzling more than $600,000 from two Louisa County churches could make its way to Rome, an attorney for the Catholic Diocese of Richmond says.
Rodney Lee Rodis, a 50-year-old Spotsylvania County resident, is accused of stealing at least that much from St. Jude Catholic Church in Mineral and Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Buckner between September 2001 and October 2006.
Rodis was pastor at the two churches between 1993 and May 2006, when he retired citing health problems. He was indicted on one felony count of embezzlement Jan. 8 and is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in Louisa Circuit Court.
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| Rev. Rodney L. Rodis |
Rodis' faculties have already been suspended by the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, said the Rev. Mark Richard Lane, vicar for clergy at the diocese. He can't present himself publicly as a priest, although he can attend Mass.
The next possible disciplinary step within the Catholic Church would be defrocking, Lane said. That would mean Rodis would return to layman status.
Lane did not comment as to whether the diocese intends to have Rodis defrocked. He said that decision would be made after the trial. Louisa Commonwealth's Attorney Don Short said there could be a trial this spring.
Diocese attorney William Etherington said the defrocking process involves sending information on the case to the Vatican, where a recommendation would be made as to Rodis' status within the church.
Rodis was ordained a priest of the Order of St. Camillus in 1986, according to The Catholic Virginia. He served in churches in Virginia Beach and Newport News before joining the Richmond diocese in 1991.
Rodis is originally from the Philippines and is not a U.S. citizen. He had to surrender his passport as part of the conditions of bond. He had been approved to stay in the U.S. through 2015 on a religious worker's visa, Etherington said. He could be deported if convicted of the felony charge.
Regardless of Rodis' status within the Catholic Church, the sacraments he performed remain valid, Etherington said.
An investigation began in November after a parishioner who had donated $1,000 asked for a receipt for tax reasons. There was no record of the donation. Rodis is accused of embezzling that money and other checks donated to the church into a Fredericksburg-area bank account.
Rodis is primarily suspected of embezzling funds from checks that were made out to the churches. More than one person would have kept watch over collection-plate donations, and Etherington said that cash collections rose during the time Rodis is accused of embezzling funds.
Etherington said that Immaculate Conception has 114 families, and St. Jude has 276. He said there are also many people who spend summers on Lake Anna and attend the rural churches.
Rodis was arrested Jan. 9 at a home on Watson Lane in the Sheraton Hills East subdivision in Spotsylvania. He is free on a $10,000 bond.
Online public records show Rodis lived at the home as far back as July 1994 with 44-year-old Joyce F. Sillador, who sometimes used Rodis' last name. Three girls who neighbors estimate range from elementary-school age to college age also lived there. Neighbors said they assumed that Rodis and the woman were married, and the three girls were their daughters.
Etherington said it's his understanding that Rodis is not married. Rodis told a reporter with the Richmond Times-Dispatch that he isn't married to Sillador but did not comment as to whether any of the girls were his daughters.
Neighbors have said they didn't know Rodis was a priest and believed he was in the import-export business. Etherington said the Richmond diocese was unaware that Rodis was living with a woman.
Etherington said the Richmond diocese hopes restitution will be part of a possible sentence. He said there could be a civil suit against Rodis, at which the diocese would seek to seize any assets obtained illegally.
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Email: bfreehling@freelancestar.com
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