Council of Parishes

[CatQuilt]

Parishioners seek probe of priests’ pension fund

$4.5m in donations said to be diverted

By Michael Levenson, Globe Correspondent | May 22, 2005
Parishioners in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston plan to ask Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly to investigate possibly fraudulent financial management in church officials' use of tens of millions of dollars donated by parishioners to fund priests' pensions, money that some believe was spent for other purposes.Parishioners also said yesterday that they would ask Reilly to investigate whether donations made for other special purposes were also misspent. Cynthia Deysher, cochairwoman of the group that plans to file the complaint, said it has no evidence that church leaders misspent funds other than the pension donations. **But the group, the Council of Parishes, an organization founded to support lay Catholics protesting church closings, has lost confidence in the church's financial stewardship**, she said.

Other special collections Deysher wants Reilly to investigate include donations that parishioners made for Latin American parishes, nuns' pensions, Catholic universities, and global disaster relief.

The heart of the complaint is the accusation that the archdiocese diverted about $4.5 million donated annually by parishioners over 16 years for the priests' pension fund, which is now badly underfunded.

According to material the archdiocese sent to priests, the archdiocese did not contribute to the priests' pension fund between 1986 and 2002. During that time, donations that parishioners made annually at Christmas and Easter were spent instead on healthcare for active and retired clergy, the documents say. The archdiocese says it now faces a $55 million unfunded liability in its pension fund for priests.

''I think we were all very perplexed as to how the archdiocese accumulated such a large unfunded pension liability, because parishioners have been giving for years," said Deysher, who is also chairwoman of the finance council at St. Anselm Parish in Sudbury. ''Now it has come out that they never put the money in for 16 years. That is fraudulent."

Corey Welford, a spokesman for Reilly, said, ''We are aware of the allegations, and we'll certainly take a look at any information people have on this."

Church officials yesterday strongly denied any impropriety.

''The Archdiocese takes up special collections for many purposes including support for our clergy," Chancellor David W. Smith said in a statement released by the archdiocese. ''Each one of those collections is remitted exactly as we represent it will be. Both the Archdiocese of Boston and the clergy funds are audited on an annual basis and at no time have any of the audit firms raised any questions whatsoever about our handling of these funds."

The Council of Parishes has been helping to organize 15 parishes from a total of 83 that the archdiocese plans to close to save money and make up for dwindling attendance and a shortage of priests.

link to full article

Another renegade group like VOTF?

 

[CatQuilt]

Archdiocese: Services don’t count
By D. Craig MacCormack / Daily News Staff
Saturday, May 21, 2005**

F**RAMINGHAM – Archdiocese officials yesterday said Mass attendance is required for all Catholics who are physically able to go and the Communion services offered at St. Jeremiah are insufficient.
Members of the Appeals Committee held Communion services last weekend at the closed parish and will have sessions today at 4:30 p.m. and tomorrow at 10:15 a.m.
A large sign in the back of the church inviting people to the services says they meet a Catholic’s weekly requirement, but archdiocese spokesman Terry Donilon said yesterday that is not the case.
“St. Jeremiah is a closed parish…(and) the majority of the former parishioners have transitioned to other parishes, especially to the receiving parish, St. George in Framingham,” said Donilon in a statement.
Peter Borre, co-chairman of the Council of Parishes, disputed the archdiocese’s stance, saying canon law dictates Communion services are valid until a church has been formally deconsecrated.
After the deconsecration, the church becomes “profane” in the canonical sense, said Borre.
Borre, who has delivered consecrated hosts – or blessed wafers that represent the Body of Christ to Catholics – to parishes in the archdiocese during the reconfiguration, has not yet done so for St. Jeremiah.
“Only if I’m asked,” he said.
In a statement, Bishop Richard Lennon, the archdiocese’s vicar general, said under Church law all Catholics have an obligation to participate at Sunday Mass unless it is impossible for them to attend. Communion services do not fulfill one’s obligation to participate at Sunday Mass, Lennon said.
At last week’s Communion services, more than 100 St. Jeremiah parishioners and supporters participated, hearing two readings, the gospel and a reflection to replace the traditional homily.
“We don’t do anything unless we really check it out,” said St. Jeremiah Appeals Committee co-Chairwoman Jackie Lemmerhirt.
Appeals Committee co-Chairwoman Mary Beth Carmody, who spoke to several canon lawyers at the St. Joseph Foundation in San Antonio before St. Jeremiah adopted the Communion service idea, said there is no problem with what St. Jeremiah is doing.
“Under the present circumstances in our parish, after having our church closed and our priest taken away, we understand that this satisfies the Sunday obligation,” she said.
“The Communion service has every element of the Mass except the priest there to actually consecrate the host,” said Carmody.

link to full article

Are they correct? Does this satisfy one’s Sunday obligation?

 

[Joe_Kelley]

RE “The Communion service has every element of the Mass except the priest there to actually consecrate the host,” said Carmody. That sounds like a body that has every element of an person except for the heart.

Without a consecration there is no Mass.