BishopAccountability.org
	Statement from Steve Jacobs Statement to the Media from St. Francis House Catholic Worker member, Steve Jacobs Columbia Daily Tribune January 23, 2008 http://www.columbiatribune.com/2008/Jan/20080122News058.asp Over the last 3 months we discovered that donations acquired to serve the homeless and the poor of Columbia that were entrusted to us were misused and spent without the authorization of the members of the St. Francis community. The tragedy for us here is that the person who did this, Lana Jacobs, is the wife of one member and the mother to another member of the St. Francis House community. And while we still care and love our fallen sister, Lana, we feel our allegiance to the truth must transcend any family ties. So we decided to break this news to our donors, volunteers and supporters first before issuing any statements to the media. But now that time has come. We have spent the last week personally apologizing to clergy and close supporters of our work and sending apologies and an explanation to hundreds of those whom we didn't have time to visit personally. We apologize to any who we missed before this hit the media but there are many more people who work to help us serve the poor here than the seven of us who remain in the core St. Francis House community. Lana has moved to St. Louis and is no longer a St. Francis Catholic Worker. We are still gathering information on how funds were misspent and misused. A special account for finishing construction on an addition to St. Francis House has been depleted. As to the amount of missing and unaccounted for funds; $20 to 40 thousand and possibly more. We don't know yet where that money went. We have been in contact with the Columbia city prosecutor and the police about gathering and providing evidence of fraud and theft. We discovered that donations were being solicited by Lana and diverted to a PO Box without our knowledge after she had been removed from having access to our records and bank accounts. We have met with and will continue to seek the guidance of persons advising us on financial record keeping of our accounts so that our books will be open and transparent for any of our donors and supporters. We are people who believe in accountability and but we also believe in redemption. We hope Lana, our wife, our mother and our former community member will get the counsel and assistance she needs to heal and to atone for her mistakes. I will send a copy of the apology and explanation that we sent to donors in a subsequent media release directly. Steve Jacobs for the St. Francis House Catholic Worker community
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