CANADIAN PRIEST UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR GAMBLING REFUGEE FUNDS

BY GAVIN MACKINTOSH

Father Amer Saka- a priest at the St. Joseph Chaldean Catholic Church in London, Ontario- is believed to have lost close to half a million Canadian dollars ( $380,000 U.S.)  entrusted to him by local families keen on sponsoring new arrivals from the Middle East. Why they trusted him is anybody’s guess, because knowledgeable individuals should know that many priests are known throughout history to commit some of the worst sins known.  Many priests have been caught out leading the Catholic Church on the one hand and sexually abusing young boys on the other hand. Examples of such shameful abuses are several in the last few decades, which church leaders many times covering up for such priests.  Just why would anybody

entrust a Catholic Priest or religious leader for that matter, with money meant for refugees?

The shamed priest called the Church’s bishop, Emanuel Shaleta, last month to confess that the funds were lost. Speaking to the Toronto star, Shaleta said “He called me on the phone and . . . said he lost all the money. I said, ‘How?’ He said, ‘Gambling,’”  He has since checked the priest into an addiction center. Investigators are examining the situation, though no formal charges have been filed.
“We believe that Father Saka has a serious gambling problem and that these funds may have been used for that purpose. Since there is an investigation going on, we cannot confirm what he’s saying,” Shaleta added.The eye of media.com was told by a friend who resident in Canada, who attends the Church in question, that members of the St.Joseph Church are hugely disappointed with the behaviour of the priest, and that some have already left the Church as a result. Our contact who was insistent on anonymity, stated ” it is such a shame when things like these are seen in the Church. You expect a priest to be above board because I don’t think many here judge priests according to the disappointing standards of other bad priests in the world. Most people thought more highly of Father Saka, though there had been a few rumours that he had a few dark secrets, but they were generally dismissed. I was invited to this Church 4 months ago when I first arrived in this town, but I don’t think I’ll go back to another one of these Churches ever again. It’s a pure disgrace, to say the least”.

Saka was in charge of funds raised by the Hamilton Diocese to sponsor 20 Iraqi refugees, but must have seen the opportunity to reap them off as an early Christmas present. The donations were in aid of Canada’s government led programme to give sanctuary to countless Syrian and Iraqi refugees, according to the declaration and approval of Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau.  The influx of refugees for the past decade has been due to the severe persecution suffered by Iraqi’s Christian community in the hands pf the Islamic State,  compelling over 100, 000 Christians to flee their homes. The donations were meant to aid thousands of such refugees, but the sheer greed or reckless carelessness of this priest of  will worsen the plights of many  of those refugees.

Religion has always been a breeding ground for manipulative people and extremist, even if we accept that there surely are decent individuals among religious people.But herein lies one of the reasons the perception of religion as an instrument of control is common among those of us who shun all sort of self centered and abusive behavior. The thought that a priest may have a gambling issue makes us wonder of he even believes in the religion he is leading at all.

 This Ontario based priest has let his community down, and we will have to wait for the findings of the investigation before we know what his punishment will be.