Fraudster steals money from a Trappist monastery, by pretending to be a Benedictine monk

The BBC (here) reports that a man who pretended to be a monk so as to defraud Our Lady of Bethlehem Abbey in Portglenone, Co Antrim, received a 14 month prison sentence yesterday. The 27-year-old, named Francesco Ferro, pleaded guilty at Downpatrick Courthouse to nine counts of fraud and two of theft.

Ferro turned up at the County Antrim abbey last May, claiming to be a Benedictine monk from Rome. As it happens, the Cistercians at Our Lady of Bethlehem were expecting an Italian visitor, so assumed that Ferro was the monk who was meant to be coming to stay with them. He remained in the monastery for a month, during which time he stole money in cash and on the Abbey's credit card.

According to the BBC, Francesco Ferro, who is an Italian originally from Romania, arrived at the Abbey "with a monastic habit in his suitcase." He himself had been a monk in Rome for four years "but never completed his training." It's no wonder, then, that the monks had been taken in by the fraudster.

Unfortunately, this type of thing happens quite a lot, and diocesan officials often warn clergy about fraudsters pretending to be ordained ministers. There are others, too, who are suspended priests that act as if they're in good standing with the Church. Both these types of men can cause disruption or scandal in parishes or religious communities.

In fact, I remember a "fake priest" stayed in my childhood parish a few years ago. He ended up stealing a small fortune from a month's worth of Sunday collections. He also threatened an elderly clergyman - stealing cash and medicines from his room.

Eventually, the police were called, and the fraudster was arrested. Unfortunately, though, the parish priest - who might have been overly compassionate towards the thief - refused to provide the police with a statement. No charges were brought, and the man was allowed to walk free.

Apparently, a few weeks after this incident, the fraudster went on to commit a similar crime. He turned up at a presbytery in Scotland, telling the parish priest there that he was from an English diocese and needed a place to stay for a couple of nights.

He ended up stealing money from the Scottish parish, and also ended up physically attacking the elderly parish priest - who ended up in hospital. The police got involved, and the man was eventually sent to prison. Needless to say, the priest from my parish felt extremely guilty for not having provided a witness statement in the first place - as that might have prevented the second incident.

It also appears that this fraudster had celebrated Mass and heard confessions both at my local parish and in Scotland! Needless to say, his crimes affected many people - physically, emotionally, financially and spiritually. As bad as it is to steal money and use physical threats, these crimes sometimes seem as nothing compared to the crime of defrauding vulnerable souls by celebrating invalid or illicit sacraments.

Events like this can happen in the Church's life - which is why priests and laity have to be vigilant when strange priests or religious turn up in their parishes. As we know, there can be some very odd characters within the priesthood, who should never have been ordained. There are others, though, who wish to con the faithful by pretending to be something they're not. Both can cause extreme harm to the Church.

Sobrii estote, et vigilate: quia adversarius vester diabolus tamquam leo rugiens circuit, quærens quem devoret (1 Peter 5:8)