Former director charged with stealing $1.6 million from Pennsylvania clergy death benefit fund

First, let me congratulate you on your June 4, 2024 posting. This is a monster problem that has been hiding/covered up for entirely too long. In your coverage of the renegade priest Daniel E. Somers, this aspect of his damage to Saint Andrew’s has not been mentioned. More facts on that later.
I add the following material on the subject of Somers in hopes of reaching those seeking more data. I think it wasn’t mentioned that he had previously been an attorney before deciding to become an Episcopal priest in his late 60s. His attorney’s website says he was Editor in Chief of the Law Review of Miami University’s Law School during his final year there. (My editorial comment–with such a background, one might assume knowledge of the fact that plagiarism is considered wrong, and an awareness of Copyright Law.) Here’s more factual material on this issue that may help clarify the apparent intent of Somers’ plagiarism.
The letter of apology Somers was required by Bishop French to write to Bishop Stokes, the People of Saint Andrew’s and to their Vestry turned out to be, in total, 7 sentences. I quote the second sentence—“I occasionally used portions of sermons, commentaries and essays from numerous sources written by theologians and other clergy.” This clearly does not include what is shown to be the copying from Scientific American, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, and other non-liturgical sources; the word “occasionally” in Somers’ letter does not appear to fit the facts—which were, of the 111 documents (110 sermons and one Pastoral Letter) which we examined (and this was not all of his output), 75-77% contained plagiarized material—some representing nearly the entire sermon. One Holy Week sermon contained only 19 words that appeared original to Somers; much of the sermon of March 3, 2020 turned out to be copies of portions of a sermon by Paul Tillich. And Somers-edited words were present in the Tillich-copied material. Of the 110 sermons, there were 5 examples identified where Somers changed the name of the Scripture author to fit the one featured in the lections of that Sunday. An example would be Transfiguration Sunday of February 23, 2020, where the copied material was a discussion of Mark’s description of Christ’s Transfiguration, but Somers changed that Gospel author reference to Matthew because he (Matthew) was featured in the lections for that day.
At first, it was thought perhaps the plagiarisms were a recent phenomenon, following Somers’ illness in March 2020. Ultitmately, though, plagiarized material was found to go back to February 18th, 2018, which was before the church hired him for a year as a Deacon and subsequently, after Ordination, as Priest-in-Charge. For 38 Deacon-time sermons examined, 66% were found to contain plagiarized material. That figure grew in the sermons from Somers as Priest to 83%. So, overall, counting in the 3 sermons with likely book sources (which we declined to buy), we found 77% contained copied and unattributed material. So, it would appear that his hirings by Saint Andrew’s were based on misinformation about Somers’ abilities (and/or training and/or inclinations), of which we (Saint Andrew’s folk and apparently the Diocese) were, at those times, completely un-knowing. The evidence for the plagiarisms is existing (word-for-word comparisons between sermons and sources) in hard copy; it has also been scanned. A summary of what currently exists is available, and can be sent to those who request it.