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Disgraced Priest Now Departed

Monday, Aug 24, 2009 | Updated 11:13 AM EST

Rev. Michael Jude Fay, 58, former pastor of St. John's Roman Catholic Church in Darien, Conn., died on Saturday.

The Roman Catholic priest whose attorney predicted he would most likely die behind bars while serving a 37 month prison sentence on a fraud conviction, has passed away.

The Diocese of Bridgeport said Rev. Michael Jude Fay, 58, died on Saturday morning. Fay's death was announced during Mass at St. John Roman Catholic Church in Darien, where he served before being convicted in December 2007.

Fay was serving his sentence at Butner Federal Correctional Complex in North Carolina. Authorities say he stole about $1.3 million over seven years at St. John's and used church money for limousines, stays at top hotels around the world, jewelry and clothing from Italy.

Fay had been undergoing treatment for prostate cancer and had asked to be spared prison time because of the illness. A judge had granted him a delay until July to report to prison while he was taking an experimental cancer drug.

Fay's attorney has said that Fay would die behind bars if he could not complete his treatment at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York because treatment was not available in prison.

Fay's death came four days after a judge refused to dismiss a suit against the diocese by a former church bookkeeper. Bethany D'Erario says she was harassed for exposing Fay's crimes.