page_title: Living Enrichment Center
section_title: Financial scandal
hierarchical_section_title: Living Enrichment Center / Financial scandal
caption_attribution_description: English: Image description: I took this picture in 2004 at the last Living Enrichment Center church service, held at Valley Theatre in Beaverton. This is the lobby of the Valley Theatre. Mary Manin Morrissey's group "Friends of Mary." Note, both men are wearing buttons that read "Friends of Mary." The sign above their heads advertises Mary Manin Morrissey's two websites at that time, "friendsofmary.com" and "successnw.com." Behind the men one can see posters of upcoming movies. Pictured are Friends of Mary supporters, (l to r) unknown, Doug Johnson. Former Congregant 13:35, 25 February 2007 (UTC)
context_page_description: Living Enrichment Center was a New Thought organization and retreat center in the U.S. state of Oregon. It was founded in the farmhouse of senior minister Mary Manin Morrissey of Scholls, Oregon, in the mid-1970s; the church moved to a 94,500 square foot building on a forested area of 95 acres in Wilsonville in 1992. Over the course of its existence, the congregation grew from less than a dozen to an estimated 4,000, making it the biggest New Thought church in the state. Living Enrichment Center maintained an in-house bookstore, retreat center, café, kindergarten and elementary school, and an outreach television ministry.
  Living Enrichment Center closed in 2004 as a result of a $10.7 million financial scandal. Edward Morrissey pleaded guilty to money laundering and using church money for the personal expenses of himself and his wife. He was sentenced to two years in federal prison. He was released in early 2007. Living Enrichment Center dissolved in 2004, from which several ministries emerged including New Thought Center for Spiritual Living., Celebration Church and Whole Life Center in Lake Oswego.
context_section_description: In early 2004, Morrissey was sued by members of LEC for unpaid loans. It was reported that the loans were often made personally to Morrissey, and that the personal finances of herself, her husband Edward, and LEC had not been treated separately. In an e-mail to Willamette Week, Steve Unger, Morrissey's attorney, wrote that the Morrisseys had committed commingling, and that "the finances of [the] LEC, New Thought Broadcasting, Mary Morrissey and Ed Morrissey were treated not separately, but as a kind of 'financial family.'" By the summer of 2004, the sum total of LEC's debt was reported by Willamette Week and The Oregonian as totaling more than $20 million. Throughout the month of June, Mary Morrissey and Harry Morgan Moses conducted a series of talks called "Standing Firm While Your World is Shaking", for a "love offering" of $15 per class or $100 for the series. On July 14, 2004, LEC held "Calling Forth a Miracle: A Benefit for Living Enrichment Center with Very Special Guests" and declared 2004–2005 as "The Year of the Miracle".
  On April 6, 2005, it was reported that a settlement deal between the Morrisseys and Oregon's Department of Consumer and Business Services had been reached: "As part of this settlement, neither of the Morrisseys may offer or sell securities. Further, Edward Morrissey agreed to plead guilty to a single federal count of money laundering. The plea agreement reached between Edward Morrissey and the U.S. Attorney's Office calls for the government to recommend a 36-month sentence, but that recommendation is not binding on the court." On April 17, Edward Morrissey pleaded guilty, admitting in federal court that he has defrauded members of LEC in soliciting $10.7 million in loans. The fact that Mary Morrissey wasn't charged, despite also pressuring LEC members to make the loans, angered some the plaintiffs. Mary Morrissey agreed to either contribute a portion of her disposable income to refunding former members of LEC. In the August 28, 2006, edition of the Wilsonville Spokesman, editor Curt Kipp wrote that she had repaid $24,000 of LEC's debt.
  After a year in prison at Terminal Island, in August 2006, Edward Morrissey was transferred to a halfway house in Seattle. He was released from the halfway house on February 2, 2007. 
  In a letter to Willamette Week in 2004, the lawyer for Mary Morrissey's then-husband, Edward Morrissey, admitted that the couple had committed commingling. Mary Manin Morrissey's second ex-husband, Edward Morrissey, pleaded guilty to money laundering and using church money for the personal expenses of himself and his wife, and spent time in federal prison. The Seattle Times reports that the Morrisseys committed "financial improprieties" and that some former members of Living Enrichment Center were upset with the deal the Morrisseys struck with federal prosecutors. Former congregant John Trudel of Newberg, Oregon, is reported to have loaned the church $100,000 between 2000 and 2002. Trudel is quoted as saying that church money was being diverted. Willamette Week wrote that Steve Unger, lawyer for the Morrisseys, admitted that the couple had committed commingling. The Oregonian writes that Mary Morrissey signed a consent agreement with state securities regulators, agreeing to repay $10.7 million to her former congregation, but she is in default and that at the rate Mary Morrissey is making repayment it will take her 300 years to repay congregation debt in full.  KATU writes that the debt may never be repaid. Wilsonville Spokesman has reported that the amount of money Mary Morrissey has repaid would amount to less than half a penny per dollar of debt.
  KATU reported that Edward Morrissey agreed to plead guilty to money laundering on the condition that Mary Manin Morrissey not be charged with a crime. The Oregonian wrote in 2009 that Mary Morrissey signed a consent agreement agreeing to repay the debt, but that she is in default of the consent agreement.
caption: "Friends of Mary" advertises in the lobby at LEC's final service
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