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.
We publish our weekly collection (small as it is) in our weekly bulletin.
St. Mary’s Georgetown, MA
I’ve noticed. They insist that the bee is sleeping for the present.
In the rush to celebration at the election of Cardinal Ratzinger to the papacy, NOR placed itself into a political box with the Papa Ratzi Post. Now even if they recognized that Benedict was doing something odd, they would not be in a position to comment on it without losing face. I think this position will color their reporting in the days ahead.
Well, the politicians in MA are now routinely threatening the Church over how it handles its internal affairs.
The left tolerates everything except what threatens their hold on political and cultural power.
IAAPS – It’s All About Power, Stupid!
– Sen. Clinton’s new election motto.
“Don’t get stuck on stupid.”
– General Honore Russell
I’ve never particularly thought there was any reason to expect secularists to treat the Catholic Church “fairly.” Why should they? I would expect them to be our enemies.
If we have a fight instead, maybe we will win, in the end. We’ve done it before! It’s better than whining for “respect” and being shocked that the Gospel makes enemies. It always has and always will. People are either drawn toward it or reject it with fury. Only those who aren’t paying attention have no particular opinion.
Jeff, it is a curiosity why even Protestants and Evangelicals always need to attack R.C.s with such vehemence – instead of eachother. And it’s pervasive in our culture. If Billy Joel’s “Catholic girls start much too late,” what could that mean for the rest of society’s ladies? It is no surprise that we’re an easy target for citing instances of hypocrisy – why? Because we stand for something, which is the only way to be open to hypocrisy in the first place.
“If this parish is so comment_date_gmt>
I prefer “dictatorship of relativism” instant porridge, which takes about two minutes in the microwave – but is sickly sweet and ultimately unsatisfying.
Heh. Heh. Good one, Theresa!
Of course, the
Without getting into too many details, NOR has a bee in its bonnet about CWR and Fr. Fessio, in particular.