A Catholic nun has appeared in court for allegedly stealing $128,000 from two New York churches.
Sister Mary Anne Rapp faces a criminal grand larceny charge for embezzling funds from St. Mary's and St. Mark's church in upstate New York.
According to the Huffington Post, the nun worked at both churches as a pastoral associate and reportedly stole the money between 2006 and 2010.
Investigators believe she spent the money at casinos. She has since been treated for a gambling addiction.
Her attorney James P. Harrington entered a not guilty plea on her behalf, court records show.
Kevin Keenan, spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo said a new pastor discovered "some irregularities" when he conducted a routine audit.
"These are smaller parishes in a rural part of the diocese," Keenan said. "Regardless of the size, this would be a significant amount of money for any parish."
Originally a member of the Sisters of St. Francis, based in Lewiston, New York, Sister Edith Wyss, the provincial minister of the order said they were praying that Rapp recovers from his addiction.
"This is a difficult time for all of us," she said, "especially those of us who have lived and worked with Sister Mary Anne for her nearly 50 years in our community."
Rapp's attorney, James Harrington, said her crime was a once off.
"She's been a nun for a very long time, been a very good person, never in any trouble before," he said.
"She did great work wherever she was assigned."
5 Comments
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.DrDerek | Nov 07, 2012, 10:00 PM EST
she kept betting on black
sparticusnorth | Nov 07, 2012, 06:40 PM EST
does that mean nuns are the same as the rest of us , ordinary sinners and not spotless, sinless, lost souls ? it must run in the family as the nuns who gambled millions on the stock market in the south and lost , let the cat out of the bag , hence the victory for the abused of the magdelene laundries is almost complete, a classic example of the biblical truth ''be sure your sins will find you out''--the sisters of nazareth bilionaire club who abused children and provided them for their papal paedophile priests will be next.
PhlutiePhan | Nov 07, 2012, 12:53 PM EST
"A new pastor discovered some irregularities". Pastors have always had the right to handle money without anyone looking over their shoulders. Many nuns are now pastoral associates which are training grounds for the ascension of nuns into being acting pastors without the ability to say Mass. They also believe that they are responsible to no one. It is also very convenient to place all of the missing money into the "gambling" category. There is no evidence, only the word of both parties involved. Maybe, the money is going elsewhere as well. This is a convenient way of minizing the man hours needed for the investigation and to keep the embarrassment out of the media. Every stealing of money by a cleric is always labelled as "gambling".
bobby | Nov 07, 2012, 11:09 AM EST
So much for the vow of poverty, they are all hypocrites in the Catholic church
hermitTalker | Nov 07, 2012, 10:29 AM EST
I presume all parishes have since established foolproof safeguards for handling cash, many did before 2006 when this sad sister's addiction hit her.