St. Joseph Catholic Church

The diocesan finance office has engaged Lighthouse Services to provide an anonymous ethics and compliance hotline for all employees of the juridic persons of the Diocese of Lansing.  This hotline allows for an appropriate method to report fraud, unlawful, unethical and other types of improper behavior at it relates to temporal administration of juridic persons in the Diocese of Lansing.

Click here to access the Financial Misconduct Hotline Policy and the Lighthouse Services Incident Report Website.

In 2016, following the retirement of Rev. David Fisher from the pastorate of St. Joseph Parish, Fr. Michael O’Brien and his staff took control of the parish records.  As they began to examine the financial records of the parish, irregularities quickly came to light. These were promptly reported to the Diocese of Lansing and a forensic audit was conducted. Based on the findings in that audit the diocese asked that the Michigan State Police investigate the possibility of criminal actions. The investigation determined there was was sufficient evidence to bring charges against those involved.
Obviously, there isn’t much that the parish, or diocese, can say about the underlying facts of this matter – it truly is in the hands of law enforcement.  However, please know that the staff of St. Joseph Parish and the Diocese of Lansing continue to cooperate with the investigation and that this came to light because of the good and careful work of parish and diocesan staff.  The diocese is committed to exploring every possible avenue for the recovery of diverted funds. Bishop Boyea fully understands the pain this is causing the people of St. Joseph Parish and he is praying for all involved or affected.
 

Click here to view the 2015-2016 Annual Financial Report