The Bishop of Louisiana announced the resignation of the diocesan controller this week after she allegedly confessed to misappropriating diocesan funds for her personal use. The Rt. Rev. Charles E. Jenkins III said the “verified” amount of “the defalcation” would not be known until a committee investigation was complete. The former controller, Selwa Perry, is the wife of the canon to the ordinary, the Rev. Canon Rex Perry.

“Selwa indicated to me that [her husband] Canon [Rex] Perry had no knowledge of her actions. Canon Perry has told me the same,” Bishop Jenkins wrote in a letter to be published in the May issue of the diocesan newspaper, Churchwork. “In addition to pledging their full cooperation, the Perrys are making provision for a full and prompt restitution.”

Mrs. Perry was hired in 1999, according to Cove Geary, the diocesan chancellor. He said the alleged embezzlement occurred over several years, but he was not sure exactly when it began or whether the diocese would seek to press charges.

Last year the diocese declined to prosecute the former headmaster at a K-12 grade diocesan-owned school [TLC, March 14, 2004] after a routine audit in 2003 revealed that over the course of several years the Rev. Paul Hancock had in a manner designed to avoid detection paid himself nearly $102,000 in what he said were “salary advances” [TLC, Sept. 28, 2003].

To read more news, features, and commentaries not available online, we invite you to subscribe to The Living Church magazine. To learn more, click here