As one who had several close encounters with Roman Catholic nuns as a youth, and was stared down by some less than angelic looking ones while riding to school on public transportation, the following sad story from Premier Christian News confirms my suspicion that the sisters are only human.
A US nun has been jailed for a year after being found guilty of stealing hundreds of thousands from a Catholic school.
Mary Margaret Kreuper admitted to stealing $835,000 (£614,000) to finance personal holidays to Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe, as well as paying for "large gambling expenses incurred at casinos".
The 80-year-old pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering after embezzling money during the ten years she worked as principal at St. James Catholic School, in the US state of California.
"I have sinned, I've broken the law and I have no excuses," Kreuper said during her sentencing, according to The Guardian.
"My actions were in violation of my vows, my commandments, the law and, above all, the sacred trust that so many had placed in me."
Kreuper had worked as headmaster in the school for more than 28 years. In 2018, during a change of management at the school, concerns were raised over missing funds.
In a statement, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which oversees the school, said these reviews, "showed a substantial amount of school funds had been misappropriated for personal use by Sister Mary Margaret during her tenure as school principal."...
...Kreuper was sentenced on Tuesday to 12 months and a day in federal prison, and has been ordered to pay $825,338 in restitution.
I don't think that restitution money will ever get paid unless she wins big at the blackjack table.
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Charitable finances should be regularly reviewed by people outside the control structure, just like any other organization. I once attended a small church in a small town in which the treasurer, a "good guy" everyone knew, had falsified statements and stolen $350,000, about all they had. The rector called him to come talk about a complaint from an elderly woman about how her cash donations were always understated. When the rector arrived, he found the treasurer on the back deck with a bullet hole in his head. He'd sent his wife and daughter to the mall and killed himself.
ReplyDeleteAt my old Episcopal parish we had a thief as well. We had to expel that person from the congregation. Anytime money is floating around there is an opportunity for the devil to creep in.
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