Twisted Sister?

Having spent sixteen years within the confines of the Catholic educational system, I've known plenty of nuns in my day.

Few of then measured up to the beau ideal of the gorgeous and radiant Sister Benedict (played by the gorgeous and radiant Ingrid Bergman), the tubercular nun that Father O'Malley (Bing Crosby) crossed swords with - and crushed on - in Bells of St. Mary's.

Even if they weren't quite Sister Benedict, I knew plenty of good nuns - women with heart, soul, goodness, kindness, and intelligence. And there were plenty who were mean and/or nasty and/or bullying and/or bitter and/or hypocrites of the highest order and/or batshit crazy.

But I never met one who I would have thought capable of embezzling nearly a million bucks from the school they were running.

Several years ago, I wrote about Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, a nun who apparently didn't take that vow of poverty any too seriously. 

The Los Angeles native embezzled more than $835,000 from the Catholic school in Torrance, Calif., where she was principal to pay for 10 years of personal expenses, including her many gambling trips to Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe, according to federal prosecutors. The tuition checks and funds sent to St. James Catholic School between 2008 and 2018 that were stolen by Kreuper equaled “the tuition of 14 different students per year,” prosecutors said. (Source: WaPo)

Well, bless me, Father, Twisted Sister Kreuper fessed up and now, at the age of 80, she's just been sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison, guilty of wire fraud and money laundering. She was also ordered to pay back the money she stole. Just how an imprisoned nun is going to be able to do that is a bit beyond me. She's not likely to get another teaching job at her age. Even if she did, teaching in parochial school doesn't pay as well as teaching in a public school. And what might be a source of making up the restitution dollars - gambling - is a bit too risky, especially with the not-so-good sister's history. So the slots and blackjack are out.  

“I have sinned, I’ve broken the law and I have no excuses,” Kreuper said at the sentencing over Zoom. “My actions were in violation of my vows, my commandments, the law and, above all, the sacred trust that so many had placed in me. I was wrong, and I’m profoundly sorry for the pain and suffering I’ve caused so many people.”

Which is better than her initial response:

“When confronted, the defendant admitted to stealing the money,” [prosecutor Poonam] Kumar said. “She claimed that the salary differential between nuns and priests meant she was owed this money, which is inconsistent with the vow of poverty she took.”

It's certainly true that nuns were treated piss-poorly. They were paid little - if anything - to staff the schools they taught in. And, unlike priests, nuns - most? all? - never had pension money set aside for their old age. So they're now broke. The assumption back in the day was that the younger nuns would subsidize the old, retired nuns. But they're not making younger nuns the way they used to, and typical congregations are now made up of lots of older nuns in need of care - and nobody and no money to care for them.

Yet one more disgraceful thing the Catholic Church has done for and to people.

I get periodic requests to support the order of nuns I had. And I still find in my mail periodic requests to my long dead mother to support the order of nuns who taught her back in Chicago in the 1920's and 1930's. 

I'm sure the fact that Sister Kreuper was an embezzler isn't going to turn a lot of hearts towards donating to the upkeep of her order. 

Anyway, Sister Kreuper apparently didn't realize she had a gambling problem. Her attorney said:

“During the time period this was happening, she had no idea this was happening. She just enjoyed gambling,” he said. “It wasn’t until the house of cards came crashing down that she realized what she had done and started to go therapy, where she realized this addiction was a contributing factor.

He added, “It’s not meant as an excuse. It’s an explanation.”

Explanation accepted. 

Still, what a crazy story.

Didn't nuns used to sit around the convent recreation room playing Crazy Eights for pins?

Anyway, I don't see what imprisoning this old nun is going to accomplish. There can't be that many embezzling, gambling nuns out there that need to get warned off bad behavior.

So what's the purpose? Sure, she done bad, but in the grand scheme of things...

Sister Kreuper's sentence starts in June, and I'm guessing she'll make the most of it. She may never become a Sister Benedict, but I bet there's some goodness and kindness in her that might prove helpful to the other prisoners. Hope so, anyway.

Good luck, Sta'!