By Bonnie L. Cook and Jeremy Roebuck
Philadelphia Inquirer
March 4, 2011
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/117387368.html
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| James St. George's contract to teach at Chestnut Hill College was not renewed because he is gay. |
An adjunct professor at Chestnut Hill College whose contract to teach was not renewed in February because he is gay previously served time in federal prison for mail fraud.
The Rev. James St. George, 45, a priest who expected to teach two courses this spring at the Roman Catholic college, pleaded no contest in 1992 to three counts of federal mail fraud stemming from charges first filed in Erie in 1989, according to a 1996 report in the Erie Times-News.
The charges, which the college says it was unaware of, involved his misuse of about $120,000 in prearranged funeral funds - money paid by 38 customers to a funeral home he once owned with an uncle, the paper reported.
"St. George Funeral Home was in financial trouble at the time, and James St. George moved money from account to account hoping that future income would be able to make up the shortfalls, but the income was never enough," the report said.
St. George, who did not return a call seeking comment, was sentenced to 15 months in prison and served 13 months at federal lockups in Morgantown, W.Va., and Ashland, Ky., records showed. He also served three years of supervised release after the prison term, the paper reported, and was required to make restitution.
Kathleen Herzog Larkin, attorney for the college, said the school "did not know about his criminal conviction when he was hired, and he did not disclose the criminal conviction on his resume."
"The position of Chestnut Hill College is that Jim St. George's behavior speaks for itself," according to a statement released by the college. "We can only comment on what happened at the college, not what happened 20 years ago. It is our opinion that someone can create a favorable impression of himself by what he fails to tell you."
St. George's lawyer, George Bochetto, called it "despicable that somebody out there would try to rummage up something that happened many, many years ago under circumstances that were unfortunate."
The case in Erie, he said, has "no bearing on what's happening today" and "disparages a man who's dedicated himself to helping others, and to promoting biblical and theological studies." He declined to comment further.
In addition to the federal fraud case, state records showed that St. George's license as a funeral supervisor, issued Feb. 5, 1988, was revoked by the State Board of Funeral Directors on May 4, 1994.
State spokeswoman Leslie Amoros requested a records search Thursday to learn the reason for the revocation, but no results were immediately available.
Born and raised in Erie, St. George moved to the Philadelphia suburbs, where he is pastor at St. Miriam Catholic Apostolic Church in Blue Bell. The church is allied with the Old Catholic Apostolic Church, which has no ties to the Vatican and allows priests to be male or female, gay or straight, celibate or married.
While employed at the college since fall 2009, St. George made public statements, both on his blog and to reporters, about being in a 15-year relationship with a man; those comments got him in trouble with Chestnut Hill College, which sent St. George a terse note Feb. 18 telling him his services were no longer needed.
The college's president, Sister Carol Jean Vale, said St. George's statements were "contrary to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church."
But St. George challenged the termination, saying it smacked of antigay bias. He said his sexual orientation never came up when he was being hired.
"What am I supposed to do?" he said. "Say, 'Before we go any further, I'm gay'? Who says that?"
While St. George could not be reached Thursday, a 1997 article in the Death Care Business Advisor, an industry publication, gave his account of the Erie case:
"I bought the family funeral home from my uncle and didn't sign a non-compete agreement. I used the funds to keep things going. He left and started to work for someone else, and built up that business at the expense of mine," St. George said.
"I used the funds, and I wholly admit it. The only person hurt was me. I returned the money and paid everyone back.
"I made a mistake, but there are things like this in everyone's past. The only time this rears its ugly head is when I get some positive press attention.
"I paid for my mistake both financially and with a portion of my life. I'm not proud of what happened, but I'm also not ashamed of it anymore either. I would love to go back in history and correct it, but I can't."
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