A few days ago, I mentioned that The Pilot, the Catholic newspaper in Boston, said Fr. Walter Cuenin had been double-dipping. Specifically, while he was on sabbatical he had been receiving paychecks from both Our Lady Help of Christians parish and directly from the Archdiocese of Boston. But was he
triple-dipping
?
During his sabbatical, the Lilly Foundation gave him a grant of $26,882 for his participation in the National Clergy Renewal Program that took him to the Holy Land for three months. Was he getting paychecks from three sources?
A big debt
Meanwhile, we also find out in the minutes of the September parish council meeting that Our Lady Help of Christians parish has had a
two-million dollar outstanding debt
to the archdiocese, and that they recently took out a loan from a local bank to pay it back. Even at a modest interest rate, that’s more than $100,000 of interest per year for a total debt service of $4 million.
If this parish is so “vibrant” and self-supporting and recipient of so much in donations why does it have such a large debt? And if it does have such a large debt, how can they justify giving Cuenin an extra $500 plus a free car lease every month?
Accountability
If the Friends of Our Lady are all about financial accountability, then where are the parish financial reports? What has the weekly collection been over the past few years? How about they get all the annual reports and weekly collection reports and post them on the web site?
Now that would be accountability
.
By the way, Rosa Buffone, founder of Friends of Our Lady is also on the parish council. None of this should be news to her.
