"85% of U.S. Dioceses Report Embezzlements"

This was the title of a Dec 21 National Catholic Reporter article on a Villanova (Catholic) University survey titled, "Internal Financial Controls in the U.S. Catholic Church." The survey was based on responses from 78 of the 174 diocesan chief financial officers in the US.

A typical example of embezzlement at a Catholic church was cited:

"Sacred Heart parishioners and residents of Bath, Pennsylvania, were shocked last month when (named withheld) was charged with stealing about $10,000 from the church's Sunday collections. (She) was secretly videotaped in the parish rectory as she allegedly altered the collection tally sheets so the funds she pocketed would not be seen as a shortfall."

"The community's stunned reaction is typical, say experts, but theft at the parish and diocesan level is hardly surprising. In fact, it's the norm."

How much money is being stolen?

"In 11% of the dioceses at least $500,000 was stolen over the past five years (meaning that a minimum of $4.3 million went missing), while one-third of the dioceses reported thefts of under $50,000. 'You can only wonder about those [96] dioceses that didn't respond to our survey.'"

What's the main problem? Too many bishops and priests don't bother with any financial controls and audits that the rest of us out in the REAL working world have to abide by!

This betrays the REAL attitude that Catholic bishops and priests have towards the laity – "Work hard all week, pay up on Sunday, and we don't care if some of it gets stolen. In fact, we KNOW some of it gets stolen!"

May the Spirit of God show Catholics they are being robbed not only financially, but spiritually as well. Pray that many Catholics confess Catholicism as sin, forsake Rome forever, and receive by faith ALONE Jesus Christ for the full and free forgiveness of sins.