[Swordmaker]

When I signed the indictment for embezzlement against a Catholic priest at a local cathedral when I was forman of the Criminal Grand Jury, I told the District Attorney that I thought I could make a reasonable defense for the priest.

You see the Dogma of the Church is that its Priests are married to the Church... and California is a community property state!

[Gamecock]

Let the rationalizations begin!

My favorite is "The Protestants are evil for even bringing something like this up."

[Gamecock]

*Skehan, 79, gave a "girlfriend" $134,000,

*Guinan, 63...payments to his own "paramour," the bookkeeper of his former parish, whom he gave $47,000 for credit-card bills and her child's tuition

*Last month a Virginia priest was indicted for allegedly embezzling $600,000 from two Catholic churches--in part to help support the woman and three children he had been secretly living with.

*Last year a Connecticut priest was accused of pilfering up to $1.4 million to pay for...jewelry for his boyfriend and a Fort Lauderdale condo

___________________________________________________________________________________

I'm sure these were perfectly innocent relationships, no violation of the celibacy rule.

[baa39]

"Still, the increasing number of clergy getting caught with their hands in the offertory is once again prompting questions about the Catholic priesthood..."

This whole article seems to be whitewashed Catholic-bashing. What "increasing number"? The article lists four priests. What is this about "low moral credibility"? The abuse scandal was almost all cases from the 70's and 80's and less than 4% of priests. A much smaller number than DOCTORS and TEACHERS who molest their charges. People did not leave the Faith in droves because of a tiny number of miscreants.

[xzins]

What's a few dollars between friends?

How in the world did these parishoners not notice all these purchases and notice a lack of funds?

My guess is that they didn't want to run programs in the first place. Otherwise, they would have wondered where all the cash was going to.

[bornacatholic]

As a Catholic who lives in the Diocese, I can say that almost everything the author writes is true. The really sad part, not mentioned, is so many Catholics write to the local papers defending the character of the accused priests. Folks are loathe to acknowledge priests are as susceptible to the effects of Original Sin as everybody else.

I am not joking.

Fortunately, I am member of St. Thomas More Parish in Boynton Beach (close to Delray Beach) and our Pastor is trustworthy and has excellent "transparent" financial practices.

Last weekend, our Parish generated over $17,000 in collections and I am confident not a penny was stolen or diverted into somebody's pocket.

As for the priest claiming he wasn't properly paid, that is a risible attempt at justification so absurd that only he could have made it :)

[Mad Dawg]

My favorite story of this kind was when, some years ago, Presiding Bishop Browning of the Episcopal Church put out guidelines to be followed by all parishes in handling their receipts. At the same time the offices of the National Church were not following basic accounting/bookkeeping procedures, and millions were embezzled.

Around that time I was interim pastor of a congregation and I tried to establish the normal safeguards, and was resisted strongly by the vestry. The members considered the guidelines to be insulting!

To me this is just another "proof" of the divine call of the Catholic Church: without divine protection no institution run so badly would have survived as long as the Church has. What a bunch of bozos we are!

Once, After I became a Catholic (obviously) I was part of the team counting the haul at our small country church. There was a procedure with rotating counters who had to fill out a form and sign it and all. My partner for that Sunday announced that she had experience in book-keeping and was certainly not going to fill out this silly form. I finished the count, went to the bulleting board and took my name off the counting roster.

[Cheverus]

First, of all this was all over the news....and Freerepublic last September when they were arrested so it's pretty old news.

Second, why do you post so many articles about Catholics, some of very dubious quality, it seems to me that you seem to post more than any two Catholics combined.

[1000 silverlings]

Once, and one time only, my church was guilty of not carefully counting its funds. Here is what happened.

.We had our 50th reunion and there were many many people there. After the services, we had several hours of socializing, etc. Then the book keeper asked one of us where we had put the collection, and nobody really had done anything with it. We went back out in the main part of the church and there it was, sitting out in the open, with all kinds of kids and adults milling around, completely ignoring it. If God can't protect what is His in his own house then who can?

[Campion]

Until two years ago, the Roman Catholic diocese of Palm Beach, Fla., ran audits of its parishes only when they changed pastors. It was a risky, even foolhardy policy when you consider that a parish

Just FYI, canon law (canon 537, to be exact) requires a parish to set up a (lay) financial committee, to oversee the finances of the parish in cooperation with the pastor.

Most dioceses (not clear if this is requirement of canon law or not) require periodic (annual, at least) financial reports from each parish.

The priest in question is a thief, and the bishop is falling down on the job. And what of the parish financial committee?

[sandhills]

I love it when these diocesan auditors talk tough. "We've got a tiger by the tail." Give me a break.
Hey, Hamel, show us the bishops' books and I'll believe that you can take bull by the horns.

[RobbyS]

More examples of the demoralization of the priesthood which has been ongoing for forty years. Ten-to -one that this priest is no longer a believer.