Police in Waterbury, Connecticut have arrested Rev. Kevin J. Gray, 64, of Sacred Heart parish for allegedly not just stealing $1.3 million from the church coffers but spending it on male escorts, hotels, and even tuition at Harvard for a male friend. He reportedly told police that he “had grown to hate being a priest” and tired of having “to fix problems made by the previous priests.” Well, now others will be fixing his little problem.
Gray was reportedly bitter over a transfer to a church while his mother was dying that forced him to commute. The church then closed another church where he was sent. He also reportedly said that he was opposed to the Church’s stance on homosexuality because he was gay. (Presumably, he is also opposed to the celibacy rule).
According to the indictment, Gray allowed two men to have credit cards in their names on his account and paid for various other expenses — including tuition to Harvard and rent in New York City for one man.
While on medical leave, Gray was living with Weirui Zhong, 35, and reportedly told Zhong he was an attorney for Catholic Charities in New Haven who had attended Georgetown Law School. He was paying Zhong’s tuition at Harvard.
Police say that Gray would also pay for male escorts from Campus Escorts in New York and meet them in hotels.
The bills were quite impressive. Since May 2003, he cashed $655,936.48 worth of checks from church funds. That amount includes $205,679.78 for restaurants in New York, Boston and Connecticut as well as roughly $150,000 in stays at high-end hotels in New York City, Boston and New Haven.
This is not the only priest arrested this year (here). At least he was not stealing the money to hire a hit man or for botox. Gray was also more restrained than some recent priests arrested for stealing church funds.
Source: Courant
Sadly, Church Fraud is a very real concern, with potential risk from the outside as well as within. There are simple steps to increase the security of a church’s finances but it is difficult to know where to start. I recently found out about a Christian Accounting firm that offers online tools and support for churches. They have some excellent resources as well as an online questionnaire that will determine whether a church is at risk. Their service is called Weeds in the Garden.
very unfortunate
Swarthmore mom
He is probably an out of control alcoholic.
Well, I think it helps that he was a catholic priest as well. I did not say that he did, I stated that I wonder if “any boys hurt?”
Being Gay and being a Pedophile are to different things. Be a Cathoic priest and alcholic are almost identical correclations.
He is being prosecuted because he stole a lot of money, not because he’s gay.
swarthmore mom
i think you missunderstood what i was saying. yes there is a big difference between being gay and being a pedophile and if he is an alcoholic or not doesn’t matter. he stole 1.3 million dollars. if found guilty the rest only matters at the sentencing hearing.
He is not a priest, he is nothing but a thief. I don’t care if he was having sex with any consenting adult, because I do not believe that the celibacy rule makes any sense. This guy was living the high life at the expense of normal every day Catholics who trusted him to use their hard earned money for good deeds. Not for throwing money to male hookers and boyfriends. I do want to know what took the Diocese so long to figure out that this much money was being pissed away?
He is probably an out of control alcoholic.
There’s also a difference between being gay, being a pedophile, and being gay while running up a tab of 1.3 million dollars on the boss’s credit card.
I can see how he could get it up that high paying for Harvard tuition (which is, I understand, approximately a hundred gazillion dollars per semester) and renting a condo in New York City, but how did he run up two hundred thousand at restaurants?
Now *that’s* impressive.
Yes I think there is a real difference between being gay and being a pedophile.
aah, the old “at least he’s not a pedophile defense”. it might work.
The article did not say the priest was a pedophile.
Harvard don’t really care where the money comes from. Were any boys hurt? But a mans gotta do a man, the way they gotta.
vlf2112–
Rev. Gray certainly wasn’t trying to “pay” the gay away.
I am not defending the priest but many of the older gay priests went to the seminary to hide because it was so unacceptable to be gay in their families or in society at large.
Another episode of “Bad Priest Theater”, brought to you by “Denial About the Nature of Human Sexuality” starring the Pope and a cast of millions – in theaters everywhere.
I’m sure this will be excused as an “isolated incident”, and that he can just “pray his gay away … right?
Ah, the Lord’s ways are not so mysterious after all.