In filing a 20-page pre-trial “Memorandum of Law in Support of Motion to Dismiss,” Rev. Rodney L. Rodis’ lawyer John R. Maus said if ever his client was “negligent in his duties, it is the right of the Bishop to intervene,” under the “canon law,” not the state.  The $25,000 secured bond of Rodis, whose parents are believed to be from Cagayan de Oro City in the Philippines, was revoked during his 51st birthday last May when he traveled to New Mexico to visit a child who had been living with him before his legal troubles. He is being held at Central Virginia Regional Jail in Orange County.

Father Rodis faces 13 felony embezzlement charges that he diverted more than $600,000 given to St. Jude Catholic Church in Mineral and Immaculate Conception in Bumpass from 1995 until he retired last year. He pleaded not guilty in March, and his five-day trial was to start on Oct. 1. Atty. Maus argued Fr. Rodis’ case on Aug. 8 before Circuit Court Chief Judge Timothy K. Sanner at a pre-trial motion hearing of the case against Commonwealth Attorney Don Short, representing Virginia. Mr. Maus said under canon law, “the parish priest is responsible for administering the temporal goods of the parish. He is responsible to decide upon the proper use of the goods of the parish. This responsibility is regulated by the laws of the Church and by his ecclesiastical superiors, primarily the Bishop.

“In the case of church property in the form of monetary donations, the first  inquiry ought to be the ownership of those donations. Under established contract principles, a donor loses ownership of property that he gives to another. ”Funds which individuals contributed to the church are no longer the property of those individuals, but are the property of the church."

Maus added that, “(i)f the Bishop finds negligence, he has to right to correct errors, demand a different method of administration, or apply punitive measures. The code (canon laws) also gives the possibility of recourse within ecclesiastical procedures if actions of its administrator have damaged a juridic (parish) person. This recourse could be either through ecclestical courts or through the Bishop.” Citing a ruling from the Virginia Supreme Court, Maus said, “the constitutional guarantees of religious freedom have no deeper roots than in Virginia, where they originated, and nowhere  have they been more scrupulously observed. These principles prohibit the civil courts from resolving ecclesiastical disputes which depend upon inquiry into questions of faith or doctrine.”

“He came in through Tidewater and had friends there,” said the Most Rev.  Walter F. Sullivan, who was bishop of the Richmond diocese in 1991 when Rodis was officially accepted as a priest in the diocese.  Sullivan, who retired in 2003, is now bishop emeritus of the diocese.

“We were in need of priests at the time. He was well liked,” he said.  “This is a shock to everybody, including me. I am upset for the people of the churches,” Sullivan said.

“We never would have accepted him without clearance from his superior.  There were no red flags,” he said. Sullivan added he doesn’t remember if he personally checked with Rodis’ religious order. The priest was ordained in the Order of St. Camillus in 1986 in the Philippines. Louisa court records say that at the time of his arrest, Rodis had a green card, which means he is a legal permanent resident of the U.S.  Rodis could be sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in prison on each of the 13 counts if he is convicted.

Police seized from Rodis’ home bank records and other items, including a receipt for Lucky Money dated May 24, 2006. Lucky Money Inc. is a service for wiring money to the Philippines, Rodis’ home country.

 The diocese said it became aware of financial irregularities in the fall when a donor to Immaculate Conception requested verification of a $1,000 contribution for tax purposes and the parish could not find a record of the donation.

The investigation of Rodis also uncovered court records listing Rodis and Joyce Sillador-Rodis as husband and wife of a deed of trust for mortgage on a house they shared with three children in Spotsylvania County.  Rodis has denied being married to the woman, although neighbors say he has referred to her as his wife for the past decade. The woman and children have moved to New Mexico.