Will of God: Anglican priest row over Joan Maureen Correll’s fortune

He was a young priest who settled in a tiny SA town where he met a wealthy widow. Now, as he is left her millions, questions are being asked about the 10 years before her death.

He was a charismatic young priest who settled in a tiny Yorke Peninsula town where he met a forthright wealthy widow, 50 years his senior.

And after developing a close relationship with Joan Maureen Correll over almost a decade, Father Thomas Karamakuzhiyil has reaped the rewards from her multimillion-dollar fortune.

But concerns have been raised that Fr Thomas, 49, abused his position of trust and exploited their relationship to obtain a personal financial advantage.

The Anglican Church is also facing questions after an internal professional standards investigation into the Adelaide Hills-based priest was dropped over “insufficient grounds” of misconduct, as only sex cases could be pursued.

This is despite national code of conduct guidelines stating clergymust have “financial integrity”, avoid any money conflicts and “exercise discretion” when dealing with gifts, although wills are not specified.

Fr Thomas denies wrongdoing.

Court documents show when Mrs Correll died 15 months ago, aged 88, she bequeathed the priest more than $2.2m through a trust, of which he is sole trustee with the power to distribute assets to himself and dependants, as well as charitable and educational institutions.

Her nearly $4.4m estate included a large farm on Minlaton’s outskirts, cash, shares and cars. The share portfolio, comprising several blue-chip stocks, has since increased almost $100,000 in value while the state’s property market has also boomed.

Mrs Correll’s family, and senior church sources, are angry at a “deeply flawed” church misconduct inquiry amid allegations it was tainted by mistakes and poor advice.

Her Melbourne-based nephew, Denys, 74, who has retired after a 50-year career in aged and social care, said the church’s position appeared to provide “no barrier” to possible exploitation.

Father Thomas Karamakuzhiyil. Pictures: Supplied

Mr Correll, who said he had no interest in more money, wants to prevent any future such cases. “What is its view about possible elder abuse and the potential for financial exploitation by priests of vulnerable elderly people, particularly those with assets and no direct dependants or descendants?” he said.

Originally from India, Fr Thomas, who denied Mrs Correll was vulnerable, will return to the subcontinent in April for at least six months.

He said the church investigation had cleared him and he never sought her money but would now honour her legacy by building orphanages or homeless shelters in India, Nepal and Myanmar.

“I never did anything wrong,” he said. “My relationship with Joan was one of, really, a strong mother and son.”

The priest, first ordained in the Catholic Church in 1997, emigrated to Australia from Kerala, southern India, in 2004, before first working in regional Victoria.

He moved to Minlaton, more than 200km from Adelaide, in March 2011 as a locum priest, where he met Mrs Correll, a parishioner.

After he became the Diocese of Willochra’s district priest five months later, the pair developed a close bond, which raised concerns among her family, friends and senior church officials.

The church’s investigation was told their friendship was strengthened from January 2015 after she had a car crash and an epilepsy diagnosis.

When her licence was suspended for 12 months, Fr Thomas “spent a lot of time acting as Joan’s driver” to Adelaide, the Hills, Maitland and the River Murray, a clergy colleague told the investigation.

He rang her every day and cooked and took meals to her, according to the colleague.

In evidence to the church investigation, Denys Correll reported attendees were “unsettled” and “very uncomfortable … by Joan’s flirtatious behaviour towards Thomas” at an April 2015 dinner.

The priest, he wrote, “made no attempt to temper the behaviour”. Fr Thomas later told family he had “no intention of interfering with Joan’s behaviour”, the investigation heard.

Documents show her will, for which the Supreme Court has granted probate, changed multiple times between March 2015 and November 2018.

She sacked her lawyers in mid-2015 after they warned her about the relationship.

They cautioned about the priest’s “direct conflict” between his role as a Minister of the church, acting as her carer and becoming such a “prominent beneficiary” in her will.

She cut friends out of her estate over similar concerns.

Mrs Correll, whose husband Mervyn died in June 1994, proposed Fr Thomas, who was first bequeathed just the farm, as a power of attorney but this was not executed.

Mr Correll told the inquiry he was “sufficiently concerned” over the priest’s influence that he sought help from a senior church official but did not receive any specific advice.

He said his aunt became angry at criticisms and concerns she was “infatuated” with the priest.

Anglican Father Thomas Karamakuzhiyil. Pictures: Supplied

“A pattern developed of Joan turning against her friends … if they queried the influence Thomas had over her,” he told church investigators.

The priest moved from the Yorke Peninsula to Mt Barker in May 2016 after claiming he was tired of local gossip.

Top church officials later warned him to stop “significant communication” with former parishioners and raised concerns about perceived “manipulation”.

Mrs Correll was asked to remove Fr Thomas from the will to avoid compromising him.

The investigation heard the pair kept close contact.

They visited Nepal to open an orphanage in October 2017. Mrs Correll made the 239km journey to Mt Barker at least six times while the clergyman travelled several times to Minlaton and organised her surprise 85th birthday.

As she received chemotherapy treatment in hospital, documents state Fr Thomas told her lawyer she wanted to “update her will to include a number of legacies”.

When he sought advice about his own will before she died, he explained he was a beneficiary and wanted to prepare for his inheritance.

The Sunday Mail does not suggest Fr Thomas pressured Mrs Correll to change her will, or her power of attorney.

After she died on October 17, 2020 – holding the priest’s hand – a funeral home paid tribute to the “loved and respected ‘Foster Mother’ of Father Thomas Karamakuzhiyil”.

The church’s investigation was launched in April last year after a Yorke Peninsula local, who is believed to have used a fake name, raised concerns with Anglican bishops about Fr Thomas’s conduct.

The church’s professional standards director, a former policewoman, spent several months investigating Fr Thomas for financial misconduct.

But a standards committee declined to refer the case to a board of inquiry – a church hearing – after his legal team argued any misconduct could only relate to sexual cases.

Claiming he was subject to racism and that people were “tarnishing” the widow’s memory, Fr Thomas said Mrs Correll decided her own will.

“I never wanted anything,” he said.

“She decided to do it. Once she made up her mind, nobody could change her. She was one of the strongest women you’ve ever come across in your life.

“Many people told me if this was given to a white Australian priest this (criticism) would never have happened.”

He said the share portfolio would help fund the farm’s maintenance and overseas projects while he also bought a local disabled girl’s family a new car.

Anglican Bishop of The Murray Keith Dalby said the committee had advised of “insufficient grounds, under the existing ordinances” for referral of alleged misconduct to a board inquiry.

“Upon (its) recommendation … I intended to place sanctions on Fr Thomas’s licence,” he said. “However, when this was communicated to Fr Thomas he chose instead to resign his position.”

Fr Thomas said he had employment options with other diocese.

Father Thomas Karamakuzhiyil. Pictures: Supplied

Church reviews clergy financial rules

The state’s Anglican Church dioceses will review their professional standard rules over the Father Thomas Karamakuzhiyil inheritance row, a senior bishop has revealed.

An internal church investigation was dropped into the Mt Barker-based priest after his legal team argued the 44-page code of conduct only allowed professional standard board inquiries into sexual cases.

This meant there were “insufficient grounds” to prove any other misconduct against Fr Thomas, 49.

The priest, who has resigned from his post, faced no professional standards board misconduct hearing into allegations he abused his position of trust with parishioner Joan Correll, who died in October 2020, aged 88.

But the state’s three Anglican dioceses – Adelaide, Willochra and The Murray – have each agreed to overhaul their professional standards rules later this year that will include tightening financial misconduct protocols.

Usually headed by a lawyer or retired judicial officer, a board of inquiry – the church’s “court” – is convened, based on a professional standards committee referral.

Board sanctions can include a local bishop “defrocking” a priest if allegations are substantiated.

The church’s national code, Faithfulness in Service – ratified in October 2006 and last updated a decade later – states financial integrity is essential in all processes and transactions.

The code, which is a set of guidelines, says clergy and church workers should not seek a “personal advantage or financial gain” for themselves or their family from their position or “pastoral relationship”.

“You are not to allow yourself to be influenced by offers of money or financial reward,” it states.

“You are to avoid situations of conflict, between your personal financial interest and your pastoral ministry responsibilities.”

It also warns clergy to “exercise discretion” about accepting gifts, including considering its size, circumstances, a giver’s intention and the “risk of your integrity being compromised”.

Substantial gifts must be disclosed to a supervisor and any uncertainty should be raised with superiors.

The Anglican Bishop of The Murray, Keith Dalby, who is head of the diocese where Fr Thomas works, said this case highlighted an unacceptable loophole on how the faithfulness in service code of conduct is applied to local professional standard protocols.

“In my view, this matter has highlighted a limitation in the … code of conduct under which we and other dioceses operate,” he said.

“While (it) does impose high standards on our clergy, at our next diocese synod meeting, in effect our parliament, we will seek to further strengthen our legislation to address broader areas of misconduct than are presently covered.

“We entirely expect that our clergy must be accountable to the highest professional standards.”

Bishop Dalby said his diocese had no power to re-open an investigation into Fr Thomas but added: “We can’t speak for other branches of the church.”