Catholic Church Sues Embezzling Nun

(Excerpted from a Fox News article.)
In addition to a lawsuit against a nun accused of stealing church money, the Omaha Archdiocese has filed more lawsuits against her and some family members.

In April the archdiocese sued Sister Barbara Markey in an effort to recover $820,000 the archdiocese says she stole as director of the archdiocese's Catholic Family Life Office.

Her criminal trial on a charge of theft by deception was tentatively set for Sept. 17.

She was initially sued in April. This week the archdiocese filed a lawsuit against 11 of her relatives for a total of $73,800. They were not accused of theft, but the lawsuit says they benefited from the money, gifts or other items from Markey.

[...] A third lawsuit was filed in Park County, Colo., seeking a lien against a house there that has a tax valuation of $262,000. The archdiocese says Markey spent some of its money on the vacation home owned by members of her family, under the incorporated name of Bally Markey.

[...] Markey, a nationally and internationally known speaker, was fired in January after an audit turned up irregularities.

According to the audit, Markey spent $307,545 for her own use or without documentation between December 2003 and January 2006.

Prosecutors say nearly $900,000 hasn't been accounted for back to 1999, but the state won't be investigating further.

Criminal court documents say at least $67,656 of the total was spent at casinos. She has denied any crime and has explained her spending as "complex accounting."

I can't help thinking that Internal Revenue might be interested in exploring her accounting principles. They frequently like to get a deep understanding of different people's "complex accounting."

The picture above is of Sister Markey. It comes as no surprise to me that she is one more nun not wearing a habit. She is Associate Director of the Center fot Family and Marriage at Creighton University. Interestingly, the Omaha Archdiocese recently severed ties with the Creighton U. Family Center after two researchers (one of whom is the Director of the Center) published an article in U.S. Catholic challenging the Church's stand on sex outside of marriage. Creighton is a Jesuit University. These days one has to ask whether being a Jesuit University means it is Jesuit and therefore Catholic, or Jesuit instead of Catholic.