Newspaper Page Text
Audit -
(Continued from page 16)
ments were made on her
behalf, totaling $1,095.
A number of miscella
neous payments on her
behalf totaled $317.
The parishes of St. John
and St. Jude were audited
because Father Michael
Woods, who acknowl
edged in August having
had an illicit relationship
with Ms. Long in the past,
had served as pastor of
both at different times.
The audit covered the
time from Ms. Long’s
registration at Hapeville
through Father Woods’
reassignment to St. Jude’s,
and then reviewed St.
Jude’s books from the
time of his assignment
there until Aug. 31, 1990,
following his resignation
as pastor.
While the funds were
taken from the parish St.
Vincent de Paul account,
Sheila Bissonnette, execu
tive director of the Soci
ety, said it was done on
the “insistence of the
pastor,” Father Woods.
“Needless to say, no
member of the Society
was aware of the relation
ship between Father
Woods and Vicki Long,
other than that he was her
pastor,” Ms. Bissionnette
said. “As pastor he direct
ed SVDP to assist her on
several occasions over a
period of two years. The
type of assistance provided
is typical of the assistance
people receive from the
Society, in that our highest
expenditures are assisting
people with rent, followed
by food and utilities.”
She added that “it is
not standard practice to
write out checks directly to
clients or to pay on credit
cards. However, in extenu
ating circumstances, this is
done. In this case, it was
the insistence of the pastor
that the aid be given from
the Society’s funds.”
The commission, made
up of Keough, Alan Pin-
ado, a Clark-Atlanta Uni
versity business school
professor, Ronald Seder, a
retired IBM director, and
Michael Trapp, a CPA and
managing partner of Ernst
and Young, gave a three-
page document to Bishop
Lyke concluding their task.
In a brief interview,
Keough called the investi
gation by the auditing firm
“massive,” and said the
scope was expanded sever
al times at the request of
the commission to investi
gate possible avenues of
misuse, but revealed noth
ing further.
One expansion of the
scope of the audit was the
polling of all priests in the
archdiocese to determine
whether any other parishes
had assisted Ms. Long
financially to their knowl
edge.
“We traveled every
possible lead and frankly
at the end of the study two
things were evident,”
Keough told The Georgia
Bulletin. “One is that the
audit itself confirmed what
Bishop Lyke said at the
outset” that there was no
evidence archdiocesan
funds were misused.
“Thoroughly examining
the three parishes in quest
ion” revealed that “a
modest amount was spent
on Vicki Long,” he said.
“While we don’t want
to minimize the results or
what happened, I think the
people of the archdiocese
can be quite pleased that
the archdiocese has han
dled this in a fundamental
ly responsible manner,”
Keough said.
The commission mem
bers said internal audits
usually reveal needed
improvements in financial
controls and “this case is
no exception,” suggesting
that improvements could
be made in the area of
parish-based accounting
and financial controls.
They deferred to Bishop
Lyke for consideration of
any specific changes.
Bishop Lyke said he had
asked Michael McNamara,
chief financial officer of
the archdiocese, to make
recommendations to him
on improved methods of
accountability. However,
he also said that the audi
tors found, at the archdioc
esan level, “overall a very
good accounting system in
place.”
Ironically, the audit
itself cost the archdiocese
$84,000, a fee that repre
sented a 50 percent dis
count given the church by
Coopers & Lybrand, the
commission and the bishop
said.
“While this is a large
sum of money and while
this represents monies that
I would have rather used
for the many needs we
have in the archdiocese
and for our ministries to
the poor, I consider it a
comparatively small
amount in comparison to
maintaining our integrity
and credibility with regard
to our use of archdiocesan
funds,” the bishop said.
Archbishop Marino
resigned in July, 1990 as
archbishop of Atlanta,
citing physical and emo
tional stresses, but within a
month, after press accounts
acknowledged that he had
been confronted by Catho
lic Church authorities with
information that he had
had an “intimate relation
ship” with Ms. Long.
& NOTRE
Wdame
BOOK SHOP
PAGE 17 - The Georgia Bulletin, December 20, 1990
Newly Free Czech Church
Faces Inherited Troubles
VATICAN CITY (CNS)
- A year after Czechoslo
vakia’s revolution, the
Catholic Church there is
fresh with new beginnings
and hope, but it must also
deal with the problems
inherited from 40 years of
repression under commu
nist rule.
Among the pluses;
- There are now 1,000
students in six Czechoslo
vakian seminaries.
- Priests and bishops
secretly ordained during the
past four decades can
function openly.
-- Last February Pope
John Paul II named bishops
for five dioceses, making it
the first time since 1950
that each of the nauon’s 13
dioceses has had its own
bishop.
- Religious orders are
reviving, and their long-
closed convents and mon
asteries are beginning to be
returned to them.
- Prague’s Charles
University has restored its
theology faculty.
- The church can openly
preach its message of faith
to young people searching
for values.
On the minus side,
however:
— Revived freedoms
have also brought renewed
divisions between Czechs
and Slovaks and resurgent
separatist feelings, especial
ly among the Slovak mi
nority
- Many of the nation’s
priests are old.
- Of priests and bishops
secretly ordained, church
authorities must now sort
out which ones are validly
ordained and regularize
their ministry. There are at
least a few secretly or
dained married men, whose
cases will pose special
problems.
In an interview in New
York in mid-December,
Auxiliary Bishop Vaclav
Frantisek Lobkowicz of
Prague said one of the
greatest challenges facing
the church in Czechoslova
kia is reaching out to
young people who have
grown to doubt everyone.
"There is such a spiritual
vacuum," said the recently
ordained bishop, who was
concluding a month of
intensive study of English
in the United States.
Young people "are look
ing for the truth," he said,
but as they realize how
many lies and half-truths
they grew up believing,
"they believe no one."
Because communist
authorities sharply restrict
ed the number of seminari
ans in Czechoslovakia,
many of the priests there
are now "old, ill and tired,"
he said.
Church authorities do
not question the necessity
of secret ordinations under
communism - but now
that the church is free they
face multiple problems in
regularizing the former
underground clergy.
Bishop Lobkowicz de
scribed the issue of clan
destine married clergy as
"a little problem" involving
only a few, mostly older
men.
The Vatican Congrega
tion for the Doctrine of the
Faith has been placed in
charge of reviewing all
cases of alleged clandestine
ordinations.
Estimates of the number
of secret clergy range from
about 100 to several hun
dred. It is not yet known
how many married men
were ordained.
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Dunwoody, Ga 30338
986-1100