Nun pleads guilty to theft, reaches settlement with Omaha Archdiocese

Published: 2008-04-03

OMAHA, Neb. (CNS) -- Notre Dame Sister Barbara Markey, internationally renowned for her pioneering work in marriage preparation, has pled guilty to a charge of stealing more than $1,500 from the Omaha Archdiocese. According to her attorney, J. William Gallup, Sister Markey entered the guilty plea of theft by deception March 31. Under Nebraska state law, he said, $1,500 is the minimum amount that can be considered a felony. The 73-year-old nun told the Douglas County District Judge Thomas Otepka that she "used at least $1,500 in funds" that she was "not authorized to use by the finance office of the archdiocese." Sister Markey was fired in 2006 as director of the archdiocese's Family Life Office after an audit found irregularities including missing funds of more than $300,000 in 2004-05. According to The Associated Press, the archdiocesan audit found that Markey spent $307,545 for her own use or spent it without documentation. She has agreed to pay $125,000 to the Omaha Archdiocese as part of a settlement her attorneys reached with the archdiocese. Shortly after she was fired, the nun's attorney at the time said the matter at issue was a dispute "about the proper ownership and priorities for use of revenues" related to a marriage preparation program developed by Sister Markey, a clinical psychologist, and used in the archdiocese and numerous other dioceses.

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