Former Catholic priest Rodney L. Rodis who lived a secret life as a husband and father of three children died as a prisoner earlier this month, after stealing at least hundreds of thousands of dollars from two Louisa County parishes.

Rodis, 58, was serving an 18-year prison sentence for embezzling money intended for church construction, tsunami relief and mission work in Haiti, among other causes. The money was used to support Rodis wife and children.

He also wired hundreds of thousands of dollars to his native Philippines, according to evidence presented in court leading up to convictions of 10 counts of felony theft in 2008, in addition to other related convictions.

Rodis died on Aug. 5, according to Chiles Funeral Home in Richmond. At the request of his family, a death notice was not provided, and a cause of death was not available.

Rodis wired at least $515,000 to the Philippines, according to authorities, who said at the time of the investigation Rodis bought properties there, including a three-story mansion.

We are praying for Mr. Rodis family and for Mr. Rodis himself. May his soul rest in peace, Catholic Diocese of Richmond spokeswoman Diana Sims Snider said Tuesday.

At the time Rodis was embezzling funds, St. Jude Catholic Church parishioner Toni Seay was the religious education director for the church in Mineral. On Tuesday, a day after learning of Rodis death, she said his lies and thefts hurt people so badly, because he seemed like such a good person.

Seay said she rarely saw Rodis on church grounds during the week. She had assumed he was spending that time at his other parish, the nearby Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. Rodis had actually spent much of his time near Fredericksburg with his secret family.

His homilies related to marriage and children, and relationships. And it was great. You connected, Seay said. And he always ended his homilies with: love each other and be a good Christian.

bshulleeta@timesdispatch.com (804) 649-6391

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Former priest dies as prisoner after embezzling from Louisa parishes

Press Release August 19, 2014

Villar SIPAG Unveils Santuario de San Ezekiel Moreno

? Sanctuario de San Ezekiel Moreno is the newest church in Metro Manila. It is a project of the Villar Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance (Villar SIPAG), the corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm of Vista Land.

? The construction of the church started in May 2011. It is in honor of the Spanish Recollect who served as the parish priest of Las Pias from 1876 to 1879. His bone relics will be housed in the church. It is located in the compound of the headquarters of Villar SIPAG, C5 Extension Road, Las Pinas.

? Santuario de San Ezekiel Moreno is designed by Architect Claude Edwin Andrews, who is also the architect of the St. Therese the Little Flower Shrine across NAIA Terminal 3. It features architectural elements inspired by the Baroque Spanish colonial period and combined with modern structural technology with a cathedral ceiling.

? The 700-seater church will be a column-free edifice, thus it eliminates obstructions in viewing the altar from any point within the church. The church has stained glass doors and windows on both sides providing cross ventilation that lends a bright and airy atmosphere inside.

The interiors of the Santuario de San Ezekiel Moreno was done by Arch. Joey Amistoso. The Spanish Baroque retabllo will have Christ on the cross and the tabernacle at the center niche complimented with the image of San Ezequiel on the right niche and St. Joseph on the left. On top of the Crucified Christ will be the sunrayed Holy Spirit dove over Our Lady of Buensoceso.

The retablo and the entire sanctuary area is enhanced by a grand naturally and artificially lighted dome over it with the insignias of the four evangelists rightly placed on its four corners. Beyond the retablo wall, there are two side altars dedicated to Filipino saints, San Lorenzo Ruiz and San Pedro Calungsod.

? There are landscaped gardens on both sides of the church and a driveway with a Porte Cochere to protect the churchgoers from the rain. There is a loft for the churh choir, which will also feature a wooden musical organ to be built by the Las Pinas organ builders. There is a museum about the life and times of San Ezequiel Moreno so that the churchgoers will get to know the Patron Saint of Cancer Patients.

The church has an Adoration Chapel, and a Rectory.

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Villar SIPAG Unveils Santuario de San Ezekiel Moreno

Today

Support groups

Church of the Open Door: 8 Carlisle Court, West Manchester Township, Celebrate Recovery, 7 to 9 p.m. with worship, teaching/testimony and small group interaction. Refreshments will be provided. For details, visit http://www.codyork.org/cr.

AWANA program

Zwingli United Church of Christ: 403 W. King St., East Berlin, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., teaches children about the Gospel of Christ and how to serve Him. For details, call Rhonda at 717-654-0727.

Employment Support workshop

First St. John's Lutheran Church: 140 W. King St., York, offers a free employment support workshop 11 a.m. every Thursday. The workshop is designed to aid unemployed and underemployed people in their job search. For details, call the church at 717-843-8597.

Lifetree Caf

Friendship Community Church: 3380 Fox Run Road, Dover Township, will host Lifetree Cafe 7 p.m. today and 7:30 p.m. Saturday. The program, titled "Encountering God: What Ancient Practices Can Teach Us Today," features a short film depicting how various groups and individuals have tried to grow spiritually. Admission is free; snacks and beverages will be available. For details, contact Dennis Hall at 717-779-0400 or dennis@friendshipcommunity.org.

Grief support

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Church news, events for week of Aug. 21 through Aug. 27

Monday, August 18, 2014 1:12 PM EDT

By ERICA SCHMITT STAFF WRITER

NEW BRITAIN Its not surprising that a church founded on unity would welcome people of all ethnicities to its annual events.

And thats exactly how St. Peters Church operates, from Sundays annual summer picnic to its Oktoberfest on Sept. 27.

I love the parishioners here; they have withstood a lot of hardships but are very loyal and welcoming to everyone, Bernadette Janiol, the church secretary and bookkeeper, said Sunday.

The second oldest church in New Britain, St. Peters was established in 1873 by German immigrants. In 1890 they began construction on the church building in Franklin Square.

They started with the cellar and ran out of money, said Franz Kuch, a lifelong parishioner. They raised more money and 10 years later built the upstairs, he continued.

When French-speaking families settled in the area, they looked to form a Catholic church.

They were going to build their own, but didnt have enough money, added Kuch. The priest here at the time spoke German, French and English, so he asked them to join this church.

That would be the Rev. Charles Coppens.

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Picnic reflects church's origins

By Sara Waite

Journal-Advocate managing editor

Rick Weingardt, chair of First Presbyterian Church's property committee, directs longtime members, from left, Jim Williamson, Jenevieve DeSoto, Mary May, James Leh, Warren Brown, Barbara Armstrong and Harry Peterson in the groundbreaking for the church's elevator and Americans with Disabilities Act addition Sunday, Aug. 17, after the worship service. (Sara Waite / Sterling Journal-Advocate)

Members at First Presbyterian Church fill their plates from a potluck buffet after the groundbreaking celebration Sunday. (Sara Waite / Sterling Journal-Advocate)

"Build up, build up, prepare the way. Remove every obstruction from my people's way."

The passage from Isaiah 57 couldn't have been more fitting as the theme of First Presbyterian Church's "ADA/HC Restoration/Elevator Installation Project Groundbreaking Celebration" Sunday.

After their regular worship service, the congregation gathered outside the church to officially mark the beginning of a project that will provide handicapped access to all three levels of the building.

Several members of the committees involved in putting the project together spoke about the project, which will feature an addition with an elevator and "open the doors to all who wish to enter."

Members of the congregation's youngest generation participate in the groundbreaking celebration for First Presbyterian Church's ADA/HC Restoration/Elevator Installation Project Sunday. (Sara Waite / Sterling Journal-Advocate)

Rick Weingardt, chair of the property committee, thanked those who donated to the fund for the project, noting that it took just six months and 100 individual contributions to meet the goal.

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Church breaks ground on ADA-access project

COBDEN -- More than a thousand miles away in Cobden, Matt Hartlines thoughts rarely wander very far from a desert in Northern Mexico.

Each year Hartline leaves the village of Cobden, where he serves as associate pastor of First Baptist Church, and travels with members of his church to El Coyote, a small remote village in the Chihuahuan Desert of Mexico.

For him, its more than just a trip out of the country, though, referring to it as a calling from God.

We are called to missions, but we are called to go to El Coyote, Mexico, Hartline said. We are not just doing random missions, but were called to go there. All of us have a heart for the Mexican people, for these people.

Beginning a dental ministry

Brian and Sherri Lukes, members of First Baptist Church of Cobden, began making the trip to Mexico more than 14 years ago after hearing a woman speak about using what God has given you to do ministry.

Sherri had taught dental hygiene at SIU for 25 years, and so she wanted to clean peoples teeth, meet their physical needs and while theyre waiting in line, share the gospel, Brian Lukes, her husband, said.

The mission work began meagerly, with Sherri setting up a lawn chair at a garbage dump in Matamoros, Mexico, just across the border from Brownsville, Texas, and cleaning teeth while her husband and others built a soup kitchen in the dump.

They expanded their ministry over the next four years, going deeper into the heart of Mexico to Palmillas. While Brian and others from the church did construction work, Sherri cleaned teeth with the help of three to six of her SIU dental hygiene students.

But after hearing about Octavio, a missionary from Mexico City, and his wife, who is a dentist and has a dental operatory and a dormitory for mission groups in El Coyote, the Lukes and others from the Cobden church have been returning each year to the tiny desert village.

Read the rest here:
Cobden church has heart for Mexico

Courtesy: Brittany Pistole

Courtesy: Brittany Pistole

Courtesy: Brittany Pistole

UPDATE 8/15/14 @ 5:36 p.m. NEW BOSTON, Ohio (WSAZ) -- A church in New Boston, Ohio is in shambles after a truck smashed through one of its walls.

Police believe the truck was topping out at more than 60 miles per hour before it hit a sign, flipped and landed inside the church.

Investigators said the driver, Samuel Gibson, 21, was drunk and the underage passenger, Zachary Cunningham, 19, was too.

Church leaders said the damage may be bad enough to condemn the building and force them to start from scratch.

"You have a huge hole in the side of your church, it was an accident," said Rev. Mike Percell.

That's the call Rev. Percell got around 4 a.m. Friday, after police said a drunk driver crashed through a fence, a sign and finally, into New Boston Nazarene Church.

"It damaged several pews, of course the walls, the complete wall is structurally unsafe, it is off-limits now to the public," he said.

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UPDATE: Suspected Drunk Driver Crashes into Church

For the first time since Fidel Castros rebel army overthrew the government of Fulgencio Batista in 1959, Cuba will see the construction of a new Catholic church.

In the ambitious project slated to start in the eastern Cuban city of Santiago, 25 tons of scrap metal used to construct the stage for Pope Benedict XVIs 2012 visit to the island will be recycled and used to build the new church.

"Reusing the metal means keeping alive the memory of something good for us Catholics. It gives it new life, so it can serve future generations," Fausto Vlez, the engineer in charge of the project told the BBC.

While the church hopes to start raising the metal beams soon to start construction, it first must raise the money needed to fund the project. So far the church's main backer is Tampa's St. Lawrence parish, which consists mostly of the members who are either descendants of Cuban exiles or exiles themselves.

Though once-atheist Cuba has loosened its law against religion secret baptisms are gone and even some Communist party members worship freely the now secular state still has a dearth of churches. The Catholic Church has only been able to renovate existing structures or rebuild ones that had collapsed.

With only one more building permit pending, Catholics in Santiago are hopeful that their new church will soon herald more construction in the city, badly damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

Along with leaving 11 people dead, the hurricane destroyed Santiagos wooden church of San Pedrito. The 93-year-old church is now little more than a concrete floor and an outline of its foundation, with whatever surviving remains candlesticks, a wooden lectern and two chipped figurines from the nativity scene stored at an elderly womans house across the street.

The rest [of artifacts] were carried off by thieves," said Marta Prez, who gathers with other parishioners in the Churchs ruins whenever a priest visits the area. "We really need our church back."

While parishioners of the San Pedrito Church hope to have their place of worship rebuilt, not far from there, in a neighborhood built after the revolution, the site of the new church is already lined up. It will take the space of a former parking lot, and according to the architectural drawing, the metal beams from 2102's stage will feature prominently in the new house of worship.

The permit still needs to be issued and $250,000 to finance the project most from parishes abroad like Tampa's St. Lawrence still needs to be raised, but Church officials are optimistic about the future of their new home and about the warming of relations between church and the Cuban state.

Excerpt from:
Cubans await construction of 1st new Catholic church since 1959 revolution

AP

Pope Benedict XVI and Cuban President Raul Castro walk outside the Revolution palace at the end of their meeting in Havana on 27 March 2012.

A team of Cuban workers are only one permit away from beginning construction on the communist country's first Catholic church since 1959.

The engineers plan to use scrap metal from a stage built for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's 2012 visit in the church's construction.

The head engineer, Fausto Veloz, described the magnitude of using pieces of the historical stage.

"Reusing the metal means keeping alive the memory of something good for us Catholics," he told BBC News. "It gives it new life, so it can serve future generations."

Cuba is officially a secular statethey removed their atheist classification in 1992although an estimated60 per cent of their population is Catholic. No new churches have been sanctioned by the government, and church leaders were only allowed to renovate existing buildings. Other buildings received no renovations, and the country is dotted with former sanctuaries that are now mostly wreckage. Theft from churches is reportedly common.

"We really need our church back," Maria Perez told BBC. Her former church, San Predito, was looted and destroyed. Perez said that former congregants gather in the streets for mass whenever a travelling priest visits.

Cuban Christians without a church home also gather in each other's homes for service, but they look forward to the day they can worship inside a sanctuary.

"The Catholic community is big here but they've never had a church," Veloz said.

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Cuba to build its first Catholic church in over 50 years

It cost a mere 120 to buy from Harrods and arrived on a truck as a flat-pack kit more than a century ago.

Maesbury tin tabernacle church with the memorial to the fallen in the First World War

But Maesburys iconic tin tabernacle church has stood the test of time and is still a much-loved building in the community.

The 108-year-old parish church shows few signs of wear and tear at first glance, and is believed to be one of only two examples of its kind in Shropshire, the other being Knowle Mission Room near Clee Hill in the south of the county.

Assistant churchwarden Maureen Ross said the tiny church is still well used by villagers, with a steady attendance at Sunday services and outreach activities held throughout the year.

It is also popular with visitors, including users of the nearby canal who occasionally pop in to join in with Sunday services.

Weve been opening every day since June and weve had some lovely comments from people saying theyve always wanted to come in, she said.

The interior wood panels are still in lovely condition I understand its the same as it was when it opened.

The churchs exterior is striking, with its small bell house, arched windows and clean white walls making it stand out from the neighbouring houses.

It was built as a result of demand in the village, which at the time had no Anglican building and just a Welsh chapel.

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Shropshire flat-pack church is a county treasure