The church: a cash business in need of oversight

The Catholic church is many things: the people of God, the body of Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit.

It's also a largely cash business. Such enterprises--think McDonald's, Dunkin' Donuts, the local pub, even your doctor's office--require a minimum level of internal and external controls to protect against theft. That is not a value judgment. It is a fact.

In Catholic terms, think temptation and original sin.

But it is increasingly clear that the American church--from chancery "headquarters" to parish "franchises"--is badly managed. Minimum levels of basic supervision are virtually nonexistent in many dioceses. In the secular world, green-eyeshade accountant types talk about lack of "internal controls" and "oversight." In Catholic terms, think of it as failed stewardship.

With the publication of "Internal Financial Controls in the U.S. Catholic Church," Villanova University's Charles Zech and Robert West have performed an invaluable service to the American church (see story on Page 5). Their just-the-facts report, based on a survey of diocesan chief financial officers, confirms what many suspected, though the magnitude of the problem is startling.

The recent revelations out of the Bridgeport, Conn., diocese--where a pastor allegedly skimmed $1.4 million from the parish till to support a distinctly unpriestly lifestyle--highlighted the problem. As did a more sophisticated scare in the New York archdiocese, where four church procurement officials allegedly conspired to extort $2 million from vendors who provided food to church schools and parishes. More typical, perhaps, is the case of Elizabeth Fields, who was charged last month with stealing about $10,000 from Sacred Heart Parish in Bath, Pa.

Eighty-five percent of the 78 chief financial officers responding to the Zech-West survey acknowledged that embezzlement occurred in their dioceses over the past five years.

And one supposes the number is as high or higher in the 96 dioceses that chose to ignore the survey.

To their credit, the U.S. bishops have taken the problem seriously. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Budget and Finance has provided significant practical guidance to dioceses on how to institute internal control procedures. The recommendations are largely common sense translated into useable processes. The same person, for example, should not be responsible for taking up the collection, counting it and depositing the funds.

But, as Zech and West note, "the USCCB guidelines are just that--guidelines. Individual bishops can abide by them, in whole or part, or reject them entirely." Far too many dioceses choose to ignore the guidance.

Theft and embezzlement are symptoms of the casual management practices dominant in the U.S. church. But it is part of a larger mess: Audits are not conducted, ethical guidelines not required, property sold to influential insiders, no-bid contracts awarded, rubber-stamp diocesan and parish financial boards convened, incompetent money managers and bookkeepers employed.

From their office parks, skyscrapers and other job sites, millions of lay American Catholics manage complex businesses and institutions. In their day-to-day lives they understand that the success of their enterprises depend not only on the quality product or service they offer, but on competent management. When these laypeople get active in their parishes, they too often find that their experiences and expertise are rejected.

Change, it seems to us, is inevitable. As the number of priests continues to decline, more and more parishes will be administered by laypeople. And they, and their increasingly sophisticated parishioners, simply will not stand for the see-no-evil management style that is currently the norm.

Those who defend the indefensible state of church management typically fall back on tired cliches. "The church is not a business," they say, or "Jesus didn't pick the apostles for their management skills." Of this mindset, Zech and West note that some church administrators think, "It might be considered insulting to church workers and volunteers to even imply that internal financial controls are important."

Of course, the church is, in part, a business (just as it is the people of God and the body of Christ), though the product of eternal salvation is, we acknowledge, less tangible than a dishwasher or SUV. And Jesus did offer some pretty sound management advice to his disciples. "Behold," he told them, "I send you out as lambs among wolves so be as wise as serpents, as innocent as doves."

To those who are insulted because of a professionally conducted audit or other such internal control procedure, and to the bishops and other administrators who fail to require such measures because they go against the culture of the organization, there's only one real response: It's well past time for church administrative practices to reflect the importance of the church's mission.

COPYRIGHT 2006 National Catholic Reporter
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning