Baltimore installs ethics hotline

WASHINGTON -- Parishioners and church personnel in Baltimore will soon have a mechanism to confidentially report financial misconduct and other improprieties, thanks to an "Ethics Hotline" the archdiocese will establish this month.

The hotline "will help us achieve our goals of transparency and accountability," Cardinal William Keeler said in a letter to pastors and other church personnel distributed last month.

A private company, EthicsPoint of Portland, Ore., will administer the hotline. Anonymous reports can be filed online or over the phone. The company "will handle complaints related to financial misconduct, which can include accounting and auditing matters, disclosures of confidential information, conflicts of interest, donor stewardship issues, embezzlement or theft, and falsification of contracts, records or reports," said Keeler.

U.S. bishops' conference guidelines for internal controls recommends that "channels of communication for employees and church workers to report suspected irregularities or illegal acts" be implemented, but only a few dioceses appear to have done so.

A similar program implemented by the Chicago archdiocese in October 2005 has been "very beneficial," said Susan Burritt, media relations director for the Chicago archdiocese.

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