An Eastern Catholic bishop in California has submitted his resignation amid a Vatican-ordered investigation into allegations of substantial embezzlement and sexual misconduct.
But the resignation of Chaldean Catholic Bishop Emanuel Shaleta has not yet been accepted by the Vatican, and sources say Chaldean Patriarch Cardinal Louis Sako is aiming to see the bishop retain a place in Church leadership.
According to documents reviewed by The Pillar, parish finance council members at St. Peter’s Chaldean Cathedral in El Cajon, California, noticed in November 2024 an unusual banking pattern that indicated the possibility of embezzlement.
The parish owns a social hall which is leased to an outside management firm for some $33,990 monthly. Rent was typically paid to the parish by the outside management company with a check. But in November 2024, the rent check deposited into the parish bank account came from a different bank account.
Records show that the rent for the hall that month was paid to the parish, not from an external source, but from another parish-based bank account, kept separately as a fund for financial assistance to the poor.
Records reviewed by The Pillar indicate that when parish leaders asked Shaleta about it, the bishop said he had instructed the management company to pay him the full amount in cash, so that he could distribute money to needy families directly, and that he had “reimbursed” the parish with money from the financial assistance account.
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