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  Hearing Is Set on Case against Priest

By Calvin R. Trice
Richmond Times-Dispatch
August 9, 2007

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2007-08-09-0149.html

Louisa — A judge set Aug. 27 as the date to hear arguments on whether to toss out embezzlement charges against the priest accused of misusing donation money for two Catholic churches.

Attorney John R. Maus claims in a court filing that the Rev. Rodney L. Rodis should not be prosecuted in court if he mishandled money donated to the two parishes.

Rodis, 51, faces 13 embezzlement counts stemming from the diversion of money intended for Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Bumpass and St. Jude Catholic Church in Mineral while he was pastor of both churches.

In Louisa County Circuit Court yesterday, Maus discussed the possibility of calling in high-ranking church authorities to testify at the hearing.

The lawyer claims his client's position as pastor gave him the authority over church money, and any mishandling should be dealt with by the Diocese of Richmond due to the U.S. Constitution's clause prohibiting government interference in church matters.

Rodis is being held without bond in the Central Virginia Regional Jail in Orange and did not appear in court yesterday.

He is accused of stealing as much as $1 million while soliciting money for the two parishes during major capital-improvement campaigns. Church officials, then law-enforcement authorities, looked into missing donation money after Rodis retired from the two parishes last year for what he described as health reasons.

Neighbors said he was living in a Spotsylvania County subdivision just outside Fredericksburg with a woman he referred to as his wife and with her three children, who've since moved away. Catholic priests aren't allowed to marry.

His trial is scheduled to start Oct. 1. He would face a maximum 260-year prison term if convicted on all counts.

Contact Calvin R. Trice at (540) 932-3674 or ctrice@timesdispatch.com.

 
 

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