Connecticut priest put on leave for allegedly taking parish funds for personal use

A Connecticut priest has been placed on administrative leave for allegedly misappropriating parish funds for personal use, with the priest denying the charges and the news prompting protests from a number of stunned faithful.

Father Charles E. Jacobs has been removed as parochial administrator of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Hartford, Conn., pending an investigation by the Archdiocese of Hartford.

Father John P. Melnick, the archdiocese’s vicar for clergy, has been appointed as Holy Trinity’s administrator by Archbishop Christopher J. Coyne, since the community is canonically a mission of the Archdiocese of Hartford’s Cathedral of St. Joseph, where Father Melnick serves as rector.

OSV News has contacted the Archdiocese of Hartford for comment, but did not receive an immediate response.

Local television station WTNH conducted separate, on-camera interviews with both Father Jacobs and with Father Melnick about the matter.

In a video posted to the station’s website Feb. 28, Father Jacobs — who said he was forbidden to present himself as a priest or publicly celebrate the sacraments, except to hear confession for those in danger of death — denied misappropriating parish collection monies for his personal use.

“I’ve never taken a penny out of that (collection) basket for myself,” he said. However, he admitted to having “put aside maybe $80 or so” of the weekly collection to aid “those people who would come to me in need” during the week.

Father Jacobs also said he had “never kept track” of the amounts taken, and claimed that Archbishop Coyne had seemed “like he wanted retribution.”

Later in the interview, the priest said he felt the archbishop “had no use” for him, and disapproved of the priest’s “pet-friendly” policy at his parish, which allowed Massgoers to bring dogs, cats and even “a hamster” to liturgies.

Father Jacobs also admitted he “periodically” gambled at Mohegan Sun, a casino and resort operated by the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut in Uncasville, about 45 miles east of Holy Trinity. But the priest denied claims that he had a gambling problem or used parish money for his casino visits.

The priest said that following questioning by diocesan investigators, he had been taken by ambulance to Hartford Hospital’s emergency behavioral unit for psychiatric evaluation, since the investigators “as mandated reporters … perceived I was going to take my life or something.”

But in a separate interview with WTNH, Father Melnick, the vicar for clergy, said he had been present at a meeting with Archbishop Coyne and Father Jacobs, during which the latter had “admitted to taking money for his personal use from the collection plate.”