BishopAccountability.org
	Fleecing the Sheep Crooked Rodney Rodis Deserved the Maximum Sentence He Received for Fleecing the Faithful The Free Lance-Star February 23, 2008 http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2008/022008/02232008/358532 FORMER Louisa County priest Rodney Rodis rendered unto both God and Caesar. He rendered perfidy and criminal offense. On Thursday Caesar, at any rate, rendered back. In Richmond, federal Judge Richard Williams sentenced Rodis, a shepherd who took the sheep for a fleecing, to 63 months in prison--a term exceeding the customary guidelines, exceeding even what prosecutors sought--minus the nine months Rodis has sat in jail. Judge Williams gave the crooked cleric the maximum, the jurist said, specifically because in his role as parish priest Rodis "abuse[d] a sacred trust." That abuse was calculated, long-lasting, and severe. Rodis is slammer-bound technically because in 2002 he stole almost $600,000 from the two Catholic churches he "served" much as a wolf serves itself mutton--Immaculate Conception and St. Jude. But he actually swiped perhaps a million dollars or more over four years, both sending the money back to his native Philippines to acquire land and, more remarkably, financing a Spotsylvania County household that included a wife and kids. That Louisa and Spotsylvania counties fall under different Catholic dioceses facilitated the charade. Rodis' crimes, deserving of judicial wrath, are despicable in various ways. For example, many of the rural churches' parishioners are working-class--the "salt of the Earth" whom Jesus especially blessed. From such people Rodis stole so that he could one day be an archipelago grandee. What's more, his plundering fuels cynicism about organized religion in general. And Rodis' greed, warns his own betrayed faith, may deflect disillusioned souls from the most important of all human paths. This case also should serve to instruct churches, volunteer fire departments, and nonprofits of all sorts to safeguard their finances. After the Rodis story broke, the Catholic Diocese of Virginia directed all of its churches to count offerings immediately after Mass with at least two unrelated parishioners present and then to place the funds in tamper-proof bags, says diocesan spokesman Steve Neill. Besides such steps, all nonprofit and volunteer agencies should invite regular independent audits of their books, thus sparing their treasurers honesty tests. Oscar Wilde identified something common in human nature when he observed that he could resist everything but temptation. So, Caesar got his due by throwing the book at former padre Rodney Rodis. What about God? That rendering is yet to come. But pity the man who gets hit with the Good Book, whose punishments we hear often exceed 63 months.
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