BishopAccountability.org
	Former St. Christopher Pastor under Fire Again Midlothian Business Manager Charged with Felony Theft, Forgery By John O'Brien Southtown Star March 30, 2008 http://www.southtownstar.com/neighborhoodstar/oakforest/866911,033008ofstchris.article The former pastor who oversaw a manager accused of wrongdoing at St. Christopher Church in Midlothian is in familiar territory once again at his new parish. Beverly Houston, 51, of Chicago, was charged last week with felony theft and forgery, accused of stealing more than $250,000 from Infant Jesus of Prague Church in Flossmoor. Authorities said Houston stole the money from Infant Jesus of Prague between April 2006 and October 2007 while she was business manager at the parish under the Rev. William Killeen. Killeen was pastor at St. Christopher when business manager James Nelson stole at least $150,000 from the church. He pleaded guilty to theft in 2006 and was sentenced to three years in prison. Killeen also hired Paul Gazze as business manager at Infant Jesus of Prague, one month before Gazze was charged with deceptive practice. Authorities said Gazze claimed on a car loan application that he worked at the church, when he was actually just a volunteer who counted collections. Gazze in 2006 was ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution to the parish, though he was never charged with theft. After the allegations against Houston surfaced last week, Killeen did not return several phone messages left for him. Bishop Joseph Perry, who would have overseen Killeen's appointment in Flossmoor, also did not return phone messages left for him. Former Crestwood Mayor Chester Stranczek, a former parishioner at St. Christopher, told the SouthtownStar last week that he was behind an anonymous $200,000 donation to St. Christopher to help bail out the church from the fallout of Nelson's thievery. While Nelson admitted he stole $150,000 from the church, some church officials and parishioners say the thefts totaled as much as $800,000. Authorities said he spent the money on personal vacations abroad and at downtown department stores. Houston, the latest business manager at the Flossmoor parish, gambled away the money she stole from Infant Jesus of Prague, authorities said. Stranczek, now retired and living in Florida, told the SouthtownStar he had hoped to keep secret his involvement with the large anonymous donation. He said Killeen, "proved at St. Christopher that he could not manage money." "It's fair to say I'm not a fan of his," he said. In May 2006, Killeen's replacement at St. Christopher, the Rev. Mark Walter, told about 300 parishioners that Nelson was likely to blame for putting the church nearly $1 million in debt. Killeen in June 2006 printed a letter to St. Christopher in the Infant Jesus of Prague bulletin in which he apologized for what happened under his watch in Midlothian. Killeen in the letter said he was "heartsick that all the hard work and sacrifice that was done for so many years by so many is now overshadowed by this enormous cloud." Walter, though refused to publish the letter in the St. Christopher bulletin, saying it contained inaccuracies.
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