Mark Sorvillo Spent Church Funds On Himself
(CBS) CHICAGO A Roman Catholic priest will be in court Thursday morning, accused of stealing from his own church.
Investigators said the Rev. Mark Sorvillo stole close to $200,000 from St. Margaret Mary Church, at 2324 W. Chase Ave. in the West Rogers Park neighborhood, where he was pastor.
Police said Sorvillo spent the money on European vacations, trips to Neiman Marcus, and liquor.
Sorvillo turned himself in on Wednesday after learning he would be arrested.
2 comments:
This is where I go to church and my kids go/went to school. We were all very surprised. Father Mark was a very nice man. He was also well educated. I believe he has a Ph.D. from Notre Dame. I was at the meeting in 2004 when he announced that we were going to become a charter school. His plan was to make it a math and science academy through the Chicago Public Schools. I believe it would have been like the one on Morse Ave. (St. Jerome’s). The meeting was announced to us through notes that came home in our children’s folders. The notice said something like, “Come To a Special Meeting on Wednesday Night With Father Mark to Hear About Exciting News For Our School’s Future.” WELL…needless to say, when he announced his plan at this meeting people went NUTS. He was seated with the old principal and the man who used to own the Pinewood restaurant (I believe he was head of the finance committee). After the announcement we were given a chance at the microphone to ask questions. I have never seen so many people yelling, crying, and saying “shame on you.”
The next day Father Mark jetted off to Hawaii. We were left to pick up the pieces. Fortunately, I believe that there were some well connected media people in the parish. These include Cook County State's Attorney Dick Devine, Sun-Times reporter Sue Ontiveros, and general counsel to the Chicago Public Schools Patrick Rocks. I am not sure who brought in the media but we got tons of coverage. Every day I’d go into work and somebody would mention seeing it on various news programs.
The people at SMM came together. The kids had banners and wore buttons. A candlelight vigil was held while Father Mark was in Hawaii. An alumni association was formed. There were meetings where older ladies stood up and told stories of how they had met their husbands there in grade school and were married at SMM. Some of these ladies signed over I.R.A.s. These people wanted it to work and made it work. I was very proud to be a very small part of such a strong group. My son was able to finish 8th grade (he’d been there since pre-k). We have a great new principal, Peggy Finnegan, who advertises heavily and we are back on our feet. Haven’t you noticed all of the open house signs around the neighborhood? She must hold 5 a year. I expect that my daughter will be able to finish up at SMM too.
About 15 months after all of this happened I returned from being out of town and everybody was talking about Father Mark and missing money. I had heard rumors of 2 sets of books being found when the school budget was being looked into months before. The next thing I knew he resigned. Nobody knew where he went. I was told he was on the south side. I must say that his mother died about ten years ago and I just figured that all of the vacations were paid for by money she left to him. Heck, it was none of my business.
So I guess he has confessed. Greed is a sin. Mortals sin. Even priests.
Speaking of the school's new LEADER, it just goes to show you what a strong, committed, intelligent, and FOCUSED leader can do for a group...hint, hint.
Post a Comment