Bishop Pilla

January 22, 1997

PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL

Most Reverend Anthony M. Pilla, D.D., M.A.

President, National Conference of Catholic Bishops

3211 Fourth Street

Washington, DC 20017-1194

Dear Bishop Pilla:

This refers to my letters of January 1 and March 24, 1996 regarding the Church–wide lack of adequate security for Sunday collection funds.

As you know, I corresponded with NCCB/USCC Associate General Secretary Msgr. Paul D. Theroux who responded on your behalf to my January 1 letter. Not having received any reply to my March 24 letters, I sent a follow-up to Msgr. Theroux on August 28. I can't recall sending you a copy of that follow-up and am therefore taking the liberty of furnishing one at this time.

As you will note, I included in the August 28 letter a syllogism that came to mind one day while I was pondering the issue. That syllogism imposes upon the hierarchy ultimate responsibility for most Sunday collection embezzlements. I'm certainly no theologian but, having gotten no correction from Msgr. Theroux, I feel safe in assuming the syllogism is sound. In any event, I recently began to think about the ramifications of that syllogism and, in the process, came up with another syllogism which, if true, places an even greater moral obligation on the hierarchy. That syllogism reads as follows:

Major Premise:

Embezzlement [the unauthorized, surreptitious removal/misappropriation of funds] from the Sunday collection - whether committed by a pastor, priest, employee or volunteer - is a sin.

Minor Premise:

Most Sunday collection embezzlements and their concomitant sins can be prevented by simple, inexpensive security measures the U. S. Catholic hierarchy is well aware of but refuses to employ.

Conclusion:

The U. S. Catholic hierarchy bears ultimate responsibility for the sins that flow from most Sunday collection embezzlements.

Quite frankly, Bishop Pilla, I'm not as confident about the accuracy of this syllogism as I was about the first. I would therefore appreciate receiving your opinion as to its accuracy and, if you deem it faulty, the identity of the incorrect premise or conclusion. Naturally, if you discover an error in the first syllogism, I would certainly appreciate being advised of the particulars so that I might adjust my thinking on this critical issue.

If I'm correct, however, you and the USCC/NCCB membership have a crucial decision to make. You must ask yourselves this question: Having been shown the light, do we nevertheless continue to be the ultimate cause of most Sunday collection thefts and the sins they represent, or do we put aside the petty, elitist resentment we so obviously hold for the messenger, swallow our pride and do what clearly needs to be done? Every time I think about this shameful situation, I am absolutely dumbfounded that our Lord has allowed such an evil scenario to be played out for so long without divine intervention. But then I remember that, in His eyes, we're all the same; crosiers and miters notwithstanding, we'll all be judged on the basis of the good and evil we did and, I believe, on the good we should have done but knowingly failed to do.

Lord knows, Bishop Pilla, I'll have plenty to answer for, but I don't believe my attempts to goad the hierarchy into fulfilling their fiduciary responsibility and eliminating occasions of sin will be part of it. It would be disingenuous of me to imply that I'm pursuing this matter because I'm worried about the souls of the hierarchy. I have enough to worry about within the circle of my family and friends. I can't help thinking, however, that if you and your brother bishops have absolutely nothing but this perennial case of willful evasion to answer for, Jesus' admonition to his disciples in Luke 17.1 should give all of you ample cause for concern.

"Things that make people fall into sin are bound to happen,

but how terrible for the one who makes them happen!"

I would like very much to hear from you, Bishop Pilla. What I'm offering the hierarchy comes under the heading of Gifts of the Laity. You really should take advantage of it.

Most Sincerely,

[signed] M. W. Ryan

RESPONSE SUMMARY

In a letter dated January 31, 1997 Bishop Pilla restated the party line -…"the Conference cannot legislate directives for all bishops to follow.." and concluded "I am confident that the bishops of this country are aware of this issue [embezzlement] and that they take appropriate measures in their dioceses to safeguard against it."