While leading the Catholic diocese in one of the poorest states in the nation, former West Virginia Bishop Michael Bransfield spent millions private jets, limousines, plush hotels and other luxury travel, according to a report in the Washington Post.

Bransfield, who was removed from public ministry in July after allegations of sexual harassment and financial abuses, took more than 150 private jet trips and 200 limo rides on the church’s tab during his 13 years in West Virginia, the report said.

He spent nearly $1 million in church funds on private jets alone at a time when his diocese was cutting funding to West Virginia Catholic schools, the Washington Post found. His travels included personal vacations and business trips to Washington, Rome, Paris, London and the Caribbean.

He also took an annual vacation to the Jersey Shore, where he often spent up to a month with friends and family while the Catholic Church paid the bills, according to receipts, flight records, church reports and other documents obtained by the Washington Post.

In August of 2018, Bransfield’s Jersey Shore bills included $276 at a liquor store in Somers Point, $1,002 at the Flanders Hotel in Ocean City and $2,975 to rent a car for a month, the newspaper found.

The bishop also spent $12,386 for a private jet in and out of Atlantic City to briefly return to Washington, D.C., in the middle of his August 2018 Jersey Shore vacation, the Washington Post reported. He took a limo to the Vatican’s diplomatic office, where he was told his job was in jeopardy after two young priests accused him of sexual harassment and another priest accused him of excessive spending and other financial abuses.

West Va's former Bishop Michael Bransfield was leader of Catholics in the nation's poorest state, but he spent millions of church money like a prodigal prince -- on private jets, limos and penthouse suites. https://t.co/9LI7BXK6na — Robert O'Harrow Jr. (@robertoharrow) September 12, 2019

Bransfield, 76, told the Washington Post he took vacations to take a break from his church work and some of the other trips were church business. He blamed his aides for booking ultra-luxury accommodations, including a $9,336-week in a penthouse suite in a Palm Beach, Florida, hotel.

“That was done by staff," he said.

Church officials said they may try to recover some of the money Bransfield spent on travel if it was for his personal benefit.

In an interview, Bransfield, 76, did not dispute the findings but defended his frequent vacations as necessary breaks from his religious responsibilities. -- the @washingtonpost reports https://t.co/ZAr2QZAW3Q — Gazette-Mail (@wvgazettemail) September 12, 2019

Some of Bransfield’s luxury travel was on business as president of the Papal Foundation, a fundraising group that often courted wealthy Catholic donors. The foundation was founded by the bishop’s close friend former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

McCarrick, the former head of the Archdiocese of Newark and the Diocese of Metuchen, was removed from public ministry and defrocked by the Vatican earlier this year after allegations he sexually abused boys, seminarians and young priests.

Bransfield is the second Catholic priest to be accused in recent weeks of spending church funds at the Jersey Shore. In August, Monsignor Joseph McLoone, was arrested and charged with theft for allegedly diverting nearly $100,000 of parish money into a secret account, a Pennsylvania district attorney said.

McLoone, the head of a parish in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, allegedly spent some of the money on trips to a Jersey Shore house he owned in Ocean City and dates with men he met on the gay dating site Grindr, the district attorney said.

Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KellyHeyboer. Find her at KellyHeyboerReporter on Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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