This, despite reports said Fr. Rodis had been living a double life and is married to Joyce F. Sillador in Fredericksburg with whom he has three daughters. Fr. Rodis retired in May 2006 after serving as pastor of St. Judge Parish in Mineral and Immaculate Conception parish in Buckner, both in Louisa county, for 12 years.

William Etherington, attorney for the Diocese of Richmond, said the diocese became aware of financial irregularities this past fall when a donor to the debt reduction collection of Immaculate Conception requested verification for a donation of $1,000 for his tax records. The parish could not find any record of the donation.

Father Michael Duffy, current pastor at both the Buckner and Mineral parishes, said the finance council at Immaculate Conception then asked the donor to make a copy of both the front and back of the canceled check he had from his bank statement.

“The check went into another account they never heard of,” Father Duffy said, explaining that their search uncovered a third unknown account at a bank in Fredericksburg in the name of the parish on which Father Rodis was the only signatory.

The diocesan office asked the bank for bank statements of the account going back the previous five years and learned that other checks from parishioners had been deposited to the account and not recorded as parish donations.

Originally from the Philippines, Father Rodis was ordained a priest of the Order of St. Camillus in 1986 and came to the Diocese of Richmond in 1991. His first assignment was as parochial vicar at St. Mark parish in Virginia Beach where he served a year. He then was named chaplain at Mary Immaculate Hospital in Newport News and served there a year also.

When he retired from active priestly ministry last May, Father Rodis told The Catholic Virginian that he had had a stroke in October 2005 which had impaired his memory. He later was in an automobile accident.

He had not been able to preach a homily since the stroke although he continued to celebrate Mass. The parish was then served by three deacons.

He left Virginia on June 14, 2006 to return to the  Philippines where he was to live at the home of his parents. He later returned to the United States to seek treatment for prostate cancer and was living in the Fredericksburg area at the time of his arrest.

Court records show that police last month 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.

Rodis and Joyce F. Sillador-Rodis are listed as husband and wife on a deed of trust for a Spotsylvania mortgage on a house they shared with three children, according to records in Spotsylvania Circuit Court.

Rodis has told the Richmond Times-Dispatch he is not married to Joyce Sillador, though neighbors say he has referred to her as his wife for the past decade.

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.

Neighbors said Rodis who lived with a woman he referred to as his wife and a daughter about 20, one in her early teens and another as young as 5 told them he was in the import-export business. They said he often was gone for days or weeks at a time.

Fr. Rodis agreed to surrender his Philippine passport as part of an agreement in which his bond was reduced from $100,000 to $10,000. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison.