Ex-B.C. priest resigns after financial investigation

By Andy Fitzpatrick
Battle Creek Enquirer
October 9, 2016

http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/story/news/local/2016/10/09/ex-bc-priest-resigns-after-financial-investigation/91827806/

St. Philip Catholic Church.

KALAMAZOO — A Catholic priest who worked at St. Philip Catholic Church in Battle Creek in the late 1970s has resigned after a financial investigation into two churches' funds.

According to a Diocese of Kalamazoo news release Sunday, the Rev. Richard Fritz, 69, resigned Thursday, a day after Bishop Paul Bradley received an audit report of financial records at Colon's St. Barbara Mission and St. Mary of the Assumption in Bronson.

Fritz worked at St. Philip from 1978 to 1980, the release said. He worked at the Colon mission from 1996 to July 2016, and worked at the Bronson church from 1990 until Thursday.

The audit was conducted by an independent accounting firm and found irregularities connected to "inappropriate" checks written between 2010 and this year.  Suspicions were raised about the funds in the spring, and Fritz' access to them was stopped in June.

The release said the diocese is now reviewing records from before 2010 and the Michigan State Police are conducting a separate investigation.