on probation

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Dec 03, 2006

Father Bernard Kelly got off with seven years probation. He's the Cape Cod priest who looted his parish while exploring boundary issues with his handymen:

In court yesterday, prosecutor Robert Welsh explained how Kelly used St. Joseph's bank account to write about $380,000 in checks to himself or to "cash" between 1999 and 2003.

Kelly kept his head down as Welsh detailed how the priest used the money to pay bills at Sears, Brooks Brothers and a hardware store, and to pay his excise taxes. He spent $17,000 worth of church money to pay off his Lincoln Town Car, Welsh said.

The criminal charges against Kelly do not include any money taken from Our Lady of Lourdes, where Kelly was pastor until 1997, because the statute of limitations for potential charges prior to 1999 had expired.

You'll remember that one of Father's little helpers murdered a young man with a narrower approach to romance than his own, and that, as a consequence, Kelly received unwelcome attention from police and the press at the time. Kelly's attorney Francis O'Boy now claims his client "can never make up for the loss of trust." Perhaps he has an unusually low opinion of Brooks Brothers.