A popular Catholic priest in Plymouth was removed Thursday as law enforcement officials investigate whether he improperly used parish funds — just as his brother, also a priest, is accused of doing at a Troy parish, according to Niraj Warikoo in the Free Press.
In a letter sent Thursday to parishioners at St. Kenneth Parish, Auxiliary Bishop Francis Reiss wrote that the Rev. Thomas Belczak, 60, "has been required to step aside as pastor of St. Kenneth Parish, effective October 9. This action results from a law enforcement investigation into the alleged improper use of St. Kenneth Parish funds."
His brother the Rev. Edward Belczak, 69, and his church administrator were indicted in April for stealing about $700,000 from St. Thomas More Church in Troy over eight years, according to federal prosecutors.
The Belczak brothers are not to be confused with another Detroit area priest, the Rev. Timothy Kane, who was convicted Tuesday by a Wayne County Circuit Court jury of six counts related to stealing from another church fund for the poor.
The brothers' downfall, Warikoo writes, has shocked many Catholics in metro Detroit who saw them as gregarious priests helping grow their congregations. With 2,400 families, the Plymouth parish is one the biggest in Wayne County; the Troy parish is one of the biggest in Oakland County.
