85 percent of U.S. dioceses report embezzlements

From NCR Cafe:

A whopping 85 percent of U.S. dioceses have detected embezzlement over the past five years, according to Villanova University researchers. “No question
about it, it’s a large number,” said Charles Zech, director of the school’s
Center for the Study of Church Management and coauthor of the 15-page paper,
“Internal Financial Controls in the U.S. Catholic Church,” that details the
findings. Supported by a grant from the Louisville Institute, Zech and Villanova
accounting professor Robert West surveyed 174 diocesan chief financial officers.
Seventy-eight responded.
The researchers don’t put a precise dollar figure on how much was embezzled, but the range indicates it’s significant. In 11 percent of the dioceses at least $500,000 was stolen over the last five years (meaning that a minimum of $4.3 million went missing) while one-third of the dioceses reported thefts of under $50,000. “You can only wonder about those [96] dioceses that didn’t respond to our survey,” said Zech.
Dishonest church employees and volunteers are the immediate cause, but the heart of the problem lies elsewhere, say the researchers.
“Unlike corporations which provide quarterly financial statements to the SEC and hold quarterly conference calls with outside analysts, the church is subject to almost no recurring outside financial scrutiny,” according to the report. Further, while “many dioceses provide parishioners with an annual financial and administrative newsletter,which provides a highly summarized view of the cash flows for the year and the results of social and spiritual programs offered by the diocese -- many other dioceses do neither.”
While external oversight of diocesan and parish finances is virtually nonexistent, internal checks are hardly any better. “Only 3 percent of the dioceses conducted an annual internal audit of their parishes,”while “21 percent of the dioceses indicated that they seldom or never audit their parishes.” When such reviews do occur, the researchers say, it’s frequently because a pastor or bookkeeper has ceased working in the parish.

Merry Christmas from the Vatican

From a card I receieved from one of the Pontifical Commissions:

More Surprising That "George" was Popular

Obviously not in the U.S. :

Mohammed overtakes George in list of most popular names

but another sign that Europe is quickly changing.

Cardinal Ruini on the Mind of Pope Benedict XVI

I feel a special link to Cardinal Ruini, because when I was in Rome I attended a Mass that he said in the Clementine Chapel one morning that included a priest, three Italian women and me. After the Mass the Cardinal went to the tomb of Pope John Paul II, knelt, prayed with great emotion and openly wept.

Sandro Magister gives a translation of Cardinal Ruini's brilliant talk recently to the priests of Rome on the thought of Pope Benedict.

Pope Warns of Threats to Christmas

From the International Herald Tribune:

"Today many consider God irrelevant. Even believers sometimes seek tempting but illusory shortcuts to happiness. And yet perhaps even because of this confusion humanity seeks a savior, and awaits the coming of Christ," the pope said.

Although he warned against being distracted by what he called the "trappings of Christmas," Benedict offered thanks for the 33-meter (110-foot) Christmas tree set up in St. Peter's Square, and the one in his private apartment in the Vatican, both gifts from the mountains of Calabria in southern Italy.

He also encouraged the custom of setting up nativity scenes in the home.

"It is my hope that such an important element (of Christmas) not only part of our spirituality, but also of our culture and art continue to be a simple and eloquent way of remembering Christ."

Another Riveting Appeal from Sophia Press

Help Sophia Press:

As I waited for Mother Angelica to come through the door, I saw that the man standing
next to me had a gun.

It was just fifteen minutes before Mother and I were scheduled to spend an hour together on Mother Angelica Live!

They'd dusted my face with makeup and led me into the cramped corridor that connected Mother's monastery to the EWTN studio. The guard looked me up and down
and then stared right into my face.

"Why do you have a gun here?" I asked.

"These days, you can't be too careful," he said, relaxing his gaze, but resting his hand on his holster.

Indeed, not a hundred yards from where I stood, thugs had twice shot up the walls of Mother's convent, in a failed attempt to drive her and her nuns out of Birmingham. Mother said that one bullet landed so close to her she "could smell the gunpowder."
And she added with a chuckle: "You never saw a crippled nun run so fast in all your life."

In Raymond Arroyo's wonderful biography of Mother Angelica, Mother notes that: "Some people say I'm a woman of great faith. I'm really a coward who keeps moving forward."

To me, that sounds like courage, not cowardice.And it's courage she's shown for eight decades now despite abandonment, lack of education, bullets, bad bishops,
near-bankruptcy, asthma, injuries, operations, pain, scorn, criticism, and the spiritual bleakness that afflicts many of us who labor these days in the vineyard of the Lord.

That evening, it was a delight to be on live TV with Mother Angelica. Her quick wit, her frank comments, and her frequent laughter enlivened my talk about the Catholic books I've published by St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Francis de Sales, St. Catherine of Genoa, Dietrich von Hildebrand, and other holy men and women.

But she was motherly, too, admonishing her viewers as if they were errant teenagers: "You have to educate your conscience. You have to read and read and read! If you spend fifteen minutes a day reading, your whole life will change. So turn off that TV!"

And then she added mischievously, "Except EWTN, of course!"

During the station break, Mother asked about my work. Hoping to impress her, I said, "I started Sophia Institute Press with $100 and no publishing experience."

"Well how about that!" she responded, unmoved. "I started EWTN with $200 and no broadcasting experience."

Once the cameras were rolling again, Mother said to the audience, "John and I both started with nothing. And we're always asking for funds."

The live audience laughed, but I was embarrassed."That's true," I began slowly, looking at my hands as I sought the right words. "It's unfortunate. I apologize. . . ."

"Oh, don't do that!" Mother shot back loudly. "I don't!"She chortled, and the audience laughed along with her.

The Nativity Story is No Passion of the Christ

Falls to #9 in its third week out. Gibson's Apocalypto falls to #6.