In recent weeks there has been an increase in scam activity across the country and within our diocese. For example: a priest’s name being used to fraudulently solicit gifts or favors from members of our church parishes. The perpetrator will typically text or email the prospective victim identifying themselves as their parish priest asking: “Will you do me a favor?” The con artist then proceeds to ask if the would-be victim is willing to donate money or gift cards for some particular cause. It is important for all parishioners of St. Francis to know that Bishop Fabre, Fr. Jay, Fr. Billy, Fr. Jean-Marie, or Fr. Josh would NEVER email or text any parishioner for such a purpose. This “phishing” scam is very prevalent across the country right now and the perpetrators are easily able to obtain priests’ names at various churches through websites or church bulletins and then spoof the priest’s identity in their scam – never using the @htdiocese.org email address but some other domain. Please be vigilant in the weeks and months to come, because this was NOT just a holiday scam. Please contact the church office if you receive a text message or email with such a request so that we can alert the authorities.