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March 4, 1997
PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL Most Reverend Anthony M. Pilla, President National Conference of Catholic Bishops 3211 Fourth Street N.E Washington, DC 20017-1194
Dear Bishop Pilla:
Thank you for replying to my letter of January 22 which concerned the moral implications of the U. S. Bishops' ongoing and willful failure to adequately protect Sunday collection funds.
In your letter, you allude to Msgr. Theroux's acknowledgement of my January 1, 1996 letter to you regarding this same topic. You mention the Accounting Practices Committee of the USCC as having "proposed means for bishops to develop better internal financial controls at the diocesan level." You further state you are "confident that the bishops of this country are aware of this issue [the evil of fraud and embezzlement] and that they take appropriate measures in their dioceses to safeguard against it."
I certainly agree the bishops are aware of the issue, but I've seen nothing to suggest that any of them have taken appropriate measures to safeguard against the ongoing phenomenon of Sunday collection embezzlement. Indeed, the USCC's own Committee on Budget and Finance seems to have made a special effort to omit from its recent guideline Diocesan Internal Controls, A Framework any "appropriate measures" for protecting Sunday collection funds. I noted that glaring omission in my March 24, 1996 letter to Msgr. Theroux, a copy of which was referred to you contemporaneously.
With all due respect, Bishop Pilla, I must conclude with one final observation concerning you and all of your predecessors and peers with whom I have corresponded over nearly 10 years. Not one of you has ever acknowledged or attempted to refute the negative moral ramifications of your ongoing failure to curtail the perennial evil of Sunday collection theft! Isn't it high time you and your brother bishops complied with the Scriptures' various highly pertinent admonitions? Until you do take appropriate action, your claim to moral leadership will remain deeply flawed.
Most sincerely,
[signed] M. W. Ryan
RESPONSE SUMMARY
Bishop Pilla opted not to respond to this letter.
To view a letter directed to his successor, click on the menu bar button entitled President No. 4. |
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