District judge Jasvender Kaur said Father Joachim Kang, 55, was guilty of "a startling case of dishonesty" and criticised him for showing no remorse for his crimes.

"This was a disgraceful series of offences. It was a blatant and persistent misuse of parish funds in gross breach of trust, and to the acute discomfiture of the Catholic Church," Kaur told the court as she delivered the sentence.

Kaur emphasised that Kang never apologised for the thefts, and even his offer to return all the money had come only after a request from the Archdiocese.

"Here, I do not detect any indication of the accused's remorse or desire to make amends... he is in fact in no position to resist repaying such monies once the offences came to light," Kaur said.

Prosecutors had said the priest used the money to buy computers for two "god-daughters" and register an $835,000 apartment with one of them.

The nature of Kang's relationship with the god-daughters have been under scrutiny, with Archbishop Nicholas Chia telling the trial earlier that he was not convinced Kang's activities with them were "consistent" or "consonant" with a god-father, god-daughter relationship.

The judge also said Kang's plea that he had left all his worldly possessions to the church "completely lacks merit".

"I find it quite invidious for a man who unlawfully deprived the church of its funds... to say that the assets would have been available to the Titular Archbishop upon his death," she said.

She said she had taken into account the many letters sent to her from parishioners as well as Archbishop Chia, which asked her for a lenient sentence as Kang was a caring and committed priest.

Kang pleaded guilty to six charges of embezzling the money, but only after maintaining his innocence for the first three weeks of his trial until he had secured a deal with prosecutors that lowered his maximum jail term.

He had faced a maximum 14 years' jail.

He has pledged to return all the money to the church and is selling his two houses in Singapore to do so. He has also promised to sell four properties in Malaysia if necessary.

Despite his offences, many parishioners of the Church of St. Theresa, from which Kang stole the funds, were present in court to offer their support.

One of them was retired teacher Theresa de Roza, 64, who told reporters outside the courtroom she had not only donated money to the church but also contributed $50,000 to post Kang's bail.

She was firm in her stand that Kang did not have to apologise to anyone.

"I donated the money and I left it in his trust. He could do whatever he wanted with it. Who are we to say he has to apologise," she said.

"For all you know, he's already apologised to God."

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