1999 President

November 28, 1999

PERSONAL ATTENTION

Most Reverend Joseph Fiorenza, President

National Conference of Catholic Bishops

3211 Fourth Street N.E

Washington, DC 20017-1194

Dear Bishop Fiorenza:

Inasmuch as the NCCB and its members are the subject of the enclosed brochure, I felt it appropriate that you be furnished a copy.

You have probably never heard of me or my ten-year quest to cause the NCCB to respond to the fact that the Church’s fiscal integrity demands that they, as a group, proactively address the critical issue of security over its principal source of revenue, the Sunday collection. To save you time and wasted effort, be advised that I have heard the standard explanation from Bishop Pilarczyk, Cardinal Keeler and Bishop Pilla, among others, and know the NCCB’s official position is that it cannot mandate the manner in which collection funds are handled within individual dioceses, that responsibility resting solely with the individual bishops. With all due respect, however, I cannot accept that excuse. Individual bishops also possess authority over Catholic universities and colleges within their dioceses, but that did not keep the Conference from recently agreeing upon the all-encompassing standards and requirements of Ex Corde Ecclesiae.

I will also save you the trouble of citing the NCCB’s issuance of Publication #5-056 as evidence of its good faith in the matter of collection security. As you will note from my letter of March 24, 1996 to Msgr. Theroux, copy herewith, I see it as exactly the opposite; the dearth of information on how collection funds should be safeguarded actually evidences the Conference’s bad faith.

The following paragraph constitutes that Publication 5-056’s sole reference to Sunday collection funds.

Handling of Collections

In this scenario, one person is responsible for counting the Sunday collection, making out the deposit ticket, taking the deposit to the bank, and recording amounts to parishioner records. This case is easy to detect and can be prevented by requiring a number of safeguards, including involvement of more than one individual in handling collections, dual counts and signatures evidencing concurrence of counts, segregation of the count procedures from deposit preparation, and recording of cash receipts. Furthermore, someone who is not part of the cash receipt function should double-check the receipted bank deposit ticket with an initial control log of cash receipts. Additional controls may include an independent review of bank statements and preparation of bank reconciliations, and a recheck of envelope receipts to parishioner records.

From that narrative, a person might conclude that collection thefts only occur during the counting process. The referenced publication is devoid of the kind of detail essential to the development of a genuinely secure Sunday collection system. There is nothing in that slap-dab treatment of a church’s principal source of revenue that would keep a collector, pastor, associate, housekeeper or other opportunist from invading the collection sacks/baskets for loose currency prior to the counting process. Consider this, Bishop Fiorenza: a single column of the enclosed brochure (1/3 page) contains far more detail on how collection funds must be protected than do all 22 pages comprising Publication #5-056! It’s absolutely mind boggling!

Of course, Bishop T. J. Murphy would quickly direct our attention to the Foreword which includes the following note: “The document addresses concerns at a diocesan level and does not specifically deal with issues at a parish or other institutional level.” That would seem to be a valid escape clause were it not for the fact that the publication gives detailed treatment to other parish-level financial activities, including control of assets and accounting records, bank accounts, cash disbursements, petty cash, cash receipts, receivables, payables and purchase orders. Clearly, someone made a conscious decision to exclude any meaningful guidelines and directives relating to the protection of Sunday collection funds. It’s a nationwide problem involving our principal source of revenue! Obviously, it should be dealt with at the national level.

I am encouraged, Bishop Fiorenza, by your Nov. 15 statement regarding the courage of your predecessors: “They faced the significant issues of their times” and your acknowledgment that the current membership “must face the issues that will come our way in the future.” It gives me hope that you will not disregard or downplay the tragic cases of [name withheld], [name withheld] (TX), Rev. [name withheld] and [name withheld] (RI) [name withheld] (CT) Rev. [name withheld] (CA) and all the Sunday collection thieves we both know are presently practicing their weekly business with great ease, compliments of the NCCB. My fondest hope, is that you will recognize them for what they are (symptoms of an inherent but very curable weakness) and do what we both know must be done.

A few years ago, while pondering causes and effects, a syllogism came into my mind; I would very much like to shelve it as being no longer applicable. It reads as follows:

Major Premise: The proximate cause of all Sunday collection embezzlements is the moral weakness of those individuals who commit such embezzlements.

Minor Premise: Most Sunday collection embezzlements can be prevented by simple, inexpensive security measures the hierarchy is well aware of but refuses to employ.

Conclusion: The ultimate cause of most Sunday collection embezzlements is the hierarchy's willful rejection of simple, inexpensive and readily available security measures.

If that syllogism withstands your theological scrutiny, Bishop Fiorenza, and we can agree embezzlement is sinful, a companion syllogism arises. If I were a bishop, I would find the ramifications of that syllogism very disconcerting and, as President of the Conference, I would feel morally obliged to do everything in my power to correct it. I pray that you and your brother bishops will promptly acknowledge and aggressively fulfill that moral obligation.

I look forward to hearing from you and, as always, I stand ready to assist in any way possible.

Most sincerely,

[signed] M. W. Ryan

RESPONSE SUMMARY

This letter was responded to on December 7 by an Associate General Secretary, a CPA with “extensive experience in dealing with the issues” raised by the author. His identity is unimportant due to his non-hierarchical status and will therefore not be revealed at this Website. His response, however, is important because it introduced Canon Law for the first time in the author’s 10-year quest for accountability. According to the Associate, Canon Law forbids the NCCB/USCC from issuing instructions on how Sunday collection funds must be handled to preclude loss due to embezzlement. The author’s reply may be viewed by clicking on the Canon Law button on the menu bar.