Change church governance

Regarding Bill Frogameni's article, "The pitfalls of shrouded finances" (NCR, March 21): It's not surprising that the Roundtable, comprised in large part of corporate officials and other "establishment" types, would place its faith in detailed, complicated and expensive-to-implement procedures familiar in the corporate world. As has been demonstrated repeatedly in the case of CEO-dominated businesses (for example, Enron, and more recently New Century Financial, whose books were audited by the largest accounting firms), such procedures in the absence of truly independent oversight are no guarantee against fraud and mismanagement.

The best and most effective safeguard against the misuse of resources given to dioceses is the involvement in governance by committed and knowledgeable people in addition to the clergy. Service on finance councils needs to be meaningful and must allow council members the authority to exercise genuine financial j oversight. Such service cannot be just at the pleasure of the bishop or pastor or regarded as purely honorary. Just as the poor will always be with us, so will the dishonest and greedy. Mr. Frogameni is correct in stating that the sex-abuse and financial scandals that have been inflicted on the church are a result of a lack of transparency in the way that the church is governed. Nothing short of fundamental reforms in governance can really be effective in bringing about the kind of genuine accountability that is needed.

GENE KRAMER

Lakewood, Ohio

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