Priest admits he stole $1 million from church

CHICAGO

A Catholic priest who resigned earlier this summer from his church has admitted stealing more than $1 million from his parish on the city's southwest side, church officials said. The priest returned the money with interest.

In a letter read to parishioners at St. Bede the Venerable, an Archdiocese of Chicago bishop who oversees the parish wrote that the Rev. Brian Lisowski had misappropriated $1.1 million in church funds between January 1999 and July 2004.

Lisowski resigned in July after acknowledging he had relapsed into alcoholism and had been stopped by police in the company of an alleged prostitute, church officials said. After resigning, parish collections rose, and the archdiocese reviewed the priest's records, the bishop said in the letter. Lisowski repaid $1.2 million to the parish, the letter said.

How was he able to repay this? Was it stashed somewhere for "safekeeping"? Article here.