A Catholic priest in the Kansas City suburbs surrendered to police last week on a felony theft charge, accused of stealing roughly $160,000 from the parish he once led, money that parishioners had given in good faith for the work of their church.

Father Richard Storey turned himself in at the Leawood Police Department on May 23, where he was booked on a level 5 felony charge and later posted a $250,000 bond, EWTN News reported. He faces up to four years in prison if convicted.

The charge stems from financial discrepancies uncovered at Curé of Ars Catholic Church in Leawood, Kansas, just outside Kansas City. The Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas said a financial review flagged the problems and that the matter was referred to law enforcement. The archdiocese has not disclosed when the review took place, how the money was allegedly taken, or over what period the losses accumulated.

A resignation, then a charge

Storey's arrest did not come out of the blue. He resigned from Curé of Ars back in September 2025, but not because of money. The archdiocese said at the time that his departure was connected to "a criminal investigation involving [Storey] concerning another adult." No further details about that separate investigation have been made public.

Months later, the financial review turned up discrepancies in the parish's books. The archdiocese referred the findings to police, and the theft charge followed. Whether the two investigations are related remains unclear. The archdiocese has not said.

What is clear is that parishioners at Curé of Ars have now watched their former pastor leave under a cloud of one investigation and return to the headlines under a second, unrelated criminal charge.

Archbishop calls the situation 'deeply painful'

Kansas City Archbishop Shawn McKnight issued a statement on May 23 acknowledging the weight of the allegations. He described the situation in terms that underscored the particular breach of trust involved when church funds go missing:

"Deeply painful for all of us in the Catholic community, particularly given the nature of the allegations involving resources entrusted to the Church through the sacrifice and generosity of the faithful."

McKnight urged the community to respond with patience and charity. He thanked Father John Riley, the archdiocesan vicar general serving as temporary administrator at Curé of Ars, for what he called Riley's "steady leadership and care for this community during this difficult time."

The archbishop also asked parishioners to "treat one another with greater sensitivity, patience, charity, and respect as we move through this together, trusting that with faith in Christ, our community can emerge stronger and more united."

The parish plans to file an insurance claim

The archdiocese said Curé of Ars will file an insurance claim to recover the lost funds. No timeline for that process has been disclosed. For the families who dropped checks and cash into collection baskets, the promise of an insurance payout is cold comfort. They gave that money to support their parish, not to fund whatever Father Storey allegedly did with it.

Cases like this are not isolated. A former New York church board member was recently indicted on 24 counts for allegedly stealing $3.8 million from a congregation, a reminder that financial misconduct in houses of worship cuts across denominations and geography.

What remains unanswered

The archdiocese's public statements leave significant gaps. The mechanism of the alleged theft, whether it involved unauthorized transfers, diverted cash, forged records, or something else, has not been described. Neither has any motive. The timeframe over which the $160,000 allegedly disappeared is also missing from the public record so far.

Then there is the matter of the earlier criminal investigation "concerning another adult" that prompted Storey's September 2025 resignation. Its current status is unknown. Whether it produced charges, was resolved, or remains open has not been addressed publicly by the archdiocese or law enforcement.

Those unanswered questions matter. Parishioners deserve to know not just that discrepancies were found but how they went undetected, for how long, and whether existing financial controls failed or were circumvented.

Trust is the real casualty

Churches operate on trust. Congregants give voluntarily, often sacrificially, believing their donations will serve the mission they signed up for, worship, education, charity, the upkeep of their parish. When a pastor is accused of pocketing $160,000 of that money, the damage extends far beyond the balance sheet. It shakes the confidence of every person who ever wrote a check or stuffed an envelope.

The Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas deserves credit for conducting the financial review, referring the findings to police, and issuing a public statement rather than burying the problem. Too many institutions, religious and secular alike, choose silence or internal resolution when money goes missing. Transparency is the minimum the faithful are owed.

But transparency also means answering the harder questions: How did this happen? What controls were in place? And what changes will prevent it from happening again?

Father Storey is entitled to the presumption of innocence in court. The parishioners of Curé of Ars are entitled to a full accounting of where their money went. Both things can be true at the same time.

People who steal from a congregation don't just take money. They take the willingness of ordinary families to give it in the first place, and that is a loss no insurance claim can cover.