DOLLARS FROM HEAVEN PRIEST FINDS BALANCE HANDING OUT MONEY ON SKID ROW.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY 

``I'm sending you out among the rich and famous. You better have a balance in your life.''

Father Donald Merrifield, former president of Loyola Marymount University.

Father Maurice Chase found his balance on Skid Row.

As the fund-raising assistant to the president of Loyola Marymount University 25 years ago, his job was to mingle with the rich and famous of Los Angeles - help them find it in their hearts to open their checkbooks to the Catholic university.

On Sundays, Father Chase found his balance with the homeless and poor - spending the day handing out 500 one-dollar bills on Skid Row.

A quarter century later and long retired from the university, the 85- year-old priest is still making the trip downtown every Sunday to find his balance.

Only now, the money he still gets from the rich and famous who continue to call him their friend all goes to the people living on Skid Row.

``He's a saint, an amazing man to still be doing what he does every Sunday down there,'' says Merv Griffin, one of the rich and famous who regularly writes out a check to Father One Dollar Bill, as Chase is known on Skid Row.

``He did get to know all the rich and famous people in town when he was at Loyola, and they're still his friends and admirers. Every time I see or think about him now, I write him a check or give him cash. He never pursues you.''

Barbara Sinatra recently mailed Father One Dollar Bill a check with a warm note thanking him for all the good work he was doing. It ended, ``I'm proud to know you.''

His roll of supporters over the years reads like a who's who list of the rich and famous - Bob and Dolores Hope, the Sinatras, Bob Newhart, Red Buttons, Eli Broad, Bill Simon Jr. and a list of stars who have passed away. Loretta Young, Irene Dunne, Gregory Peck, Jimmy Stewart and many others.

When Los Angeles Police Chief Bill Bratton arrived in town a few years ago, he was introduced to Chase. Bratton became an instant supporter.

``Whenever he sees me now, he hands me a dollar bill,'' Chase laughs.

Yeah, with friends and acquaintances like that, Father Merrifield knew exactly what he was saying 25 years ago when he told his new assistant at Loyola Marymount University that he'd better find a balance in life.

He gets up at 4 a.m. every day to write thank-you notes to his donors before breakfast. It's important that these people know how much he and the people living on Skid Row appreciate their support.

Chase knows if he had been just Father Chase, the priest, instead of the assistant to the president of a prestigious university, he would never have had the entree to meet all these rich and famous people.

He wouldn't be walking over to the local Bank of America branch close to his small one-bedroom apartment 25 years later to deposit their checks.

Wouldn't be picking up stacks of $1 bills the bank has waiting for him every Saturday. New, crisp bills - never used.

``Everything is so dirty on Skid Row,'' Chase says. ``I want to give them something fresh and new.''

When he started making these visits back around 1980 there was $500 in those stacks. Today, it's closer to $5,000 as the homeless population continues to grow.

He has four guards now - men living on Skid Row he trusts - spending the 10-hour day with him while he hands out the money because, well, you never know, he says. Carrying that kind of money down there can be dangerous, but he's never been harmed.

Everyone gets $1, except people with physical handicaps or ones he knows are in special need. Those he may hand $50 or $100 once in a while. The rest get a buck.

``I tell some of my rich friends that if you don't have anything in your pocket, a dollar seems like $100,'' Chase says.

``But it's not about the money. It's about the pat on the back. The hope that things will get better, that somebody out there cares. The happiest part of my whole life has been working on Skid Row.''

But he's worried. At 85, he doesn't know how much longer he can continue to make these trips to Skid Row every Sunday. God has been kind in giving him good health all these years, he says. He doesn't want to push it.

``I've been agonizing over how do I stop, who does this after me?'' Chase said Friday, finishing a few more thank-you notes to donors. ``It's going to be awfully hard to find someone. Every priest I know has to be in church on Sunday.''

The visits to Skid Row could be moved to another day, he knows, but it wouldn't be the same. There's just something about Sunday that makes it the perfect day for helping the poor.

``You know Jesus said, 'When you have done it to the least of men, you have done it to me,''' Father Chase says.

``The way I see it, I shake hands and hug Jesus over 5,000 times each week on Skid Row.''

Dennis McCarthy, [phone]

dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

8 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) William Lewis receives a blessing from Father Maurice Chase, who has been a Skid Row activist for the past 25 years.

(2 -- color) A thankful homeless man gives a hug to Father Maurice Chase - who hands out dollars funded by donations each week on Skid Row.

(3 -- color) Men on Skid Row wait in line to receive money from the priest, a retired Loyola Marymount University assistant to the president.

(4 -- color) A homeless man gets emotional after receiving a gift of $100 from Father Maurice Chase near the Fred Jordan Mission in downtown Los Angeles.

(5 -- color) At right, Father Chase and an assistant prepare to wake Richard Wilson, who has been homeless for about a decade, so that they can give him some money.

(6 -- color) Outside the mission, Deeann Wolf kisses the hand of the priest to thank him for the money he's given to help her out. Wolf has been homeless for 12 years.

A grateful recipient reaches for a $100 bill from Father Chase, who receives donations from stars including Merv Griffin for his weekly charitable outings.

(7 -- color) Police stand outside the mission as Father Chase gets out of his car after stocking up on more bills to be distributed to the needy on Skid Row.

(8 -- color) no caption (Father Maurice Chase hands out a $100 bill)

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer