Darien Priest Starts

Prison Term For Thefts

DARIEN (AP) — A Roman Catholic priest convicted of stealing more than $1 million from his parish to finance a lavish lifestyle has started a three-year federal prison sentence, authorities said.

The Reverend Michael Jude Fay previously had been granted several delays while being treated for prostate cancer. Federal officials say he reported Tuesday to a facility in Ayers, Mass., to start his sentence.

Fay served at St Rose of Lima Parish in Newtown from 1977 to 1986. He served there as a deacon for one year and then as an assistant pastor for eight years.

Fay was charged with stealing $1.3 million from St John Roman Catholic Church in Darien between 1999 and 2006. Prosecutors say he set up secret bank accounts and spent the money on a lavish lifestyle, including international travel, expensive gifts, and a Florida condominium.

Fay pleaded guilty in 2007 to interstate transportation of money obtained by fraud.

“It is to be hoped that in serving his sentence, Father Fay will come to terms with the harm that was done to his former parish, the priesthood, and the Catholic Church at large,” said Joseph McAleer, spokesman of the Diocese of Bridgeport.

Monsignor Frank McGrath of St John called it a tragedy.

“We’re praying for Father Jude, and we’re praying for the people that were especially hurt by his actions and the story in general,” he said.

Fay’s surrender date was repeatedly delayed as federal officials and his doctors at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York determined how to continue his participation in a clinical trial of an experimental cancer treatment.

His attorney, Lawrence Hopkins, has said Fay would die without that treatment. Hopkins did not return a call seeking comment Tuesday.

Earlier this month, the sides reached a compromise that allows Fay to serve his time in Massachusetts while receiving treatment at the nearby Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.