Render Unto Rome_ The Secret Life of Money in the Catholic Church - Jason Berry [141]
Whatever the precise nature of Wright’s relationship with Ruane, he helped her find work, routing funds through a subcontractor for compensation, according to Kushner. Kushner charged that the diocese “routinely gave additional compensation to employees” outside the conventional payroll methods, “including many of the witnesses in this case, such as Father Wright.… [and] Bishop Pilla.” John Wright and Joe Smith had played golf together, sometimes with Anton Zgoznik. Now, it was every man for himself. Smith was pulling out what he knew about the clergy old-boy network and its ethical liabilities to mount a defense. Kushner wanted the diocese’s copy of IRS findings from a late-1990s audit because, he alleged, “the IRS determined that the Catholic Universe Bulletin had consistently failed to report additional income paid to individuals”—more off the books! As the evidence scrimmage pitched back and forth, Kushner accused the diocese of destroying records, a charge unproven. His discovery requests did not yield all of the materials he suggested would exculpate his client;12 but he planted the unmistakable impression that Pilla had a rewarding relationship with his ex-quarterback on money, Joe Smith:
The Anthony M. Pilla Charitable Account [has] assets in excess of $500,000 … It has never appeared on the [diocese’s] books and records. Bishop Pilla withdrew money from the account for his own use in a manner designed to conceal the transactions and his use of the funds.13
Jones Day attorney Stephen Sozio accused Kushner of a fishing expedition. Kushner had indeed tossed juicy bait to the press: “After the indictment in this case, Bishop Pilla resigned and filed amended tax returns which account for some of the activity in this account.” Pilla had written a check payable to cash for $180,000 from the account and deposited it with the diocese, asserted Kushner. The diocese attacked Kushner’s “scurrilous accusations.” But for all of the church’s pushback, the persona of Pilla–as–gentle pastor faced a competing image: the bishop who lived like a lord. For as the Plain Dealer tracked the money, some $78,000 that attorney Kushner said “was secretly funneled” to the bishop, reported Mike Tobin, went to
furnishing and remodeling a spacious Geauga County home that was to be used as a getaway spot. Pilla kept many of the household items—including a large-scale television—after the diocese sold the Munson Township house and 30-acre lot in 2003. Movers took the furnishings to a home Pilla owns in Cleveland Heights …
Diocesan spokesman Bob Tayek said private donations paid for improvements at the Munson property. After the sale, items in the home were split among diocesan headquarters, St. John Cathedral and the Cleveland Heights residence that Pilla inherited after his mother died.
“The diocese is responsible for a retirement residence for him,” Tayek said.
The Munson home was donated to the diocese in 1995 by Larry Dolan, now the owner of the Cleveland Indians, who suggested it be used as a retreat house for the Cleveland bishop. The house was intended for whoever was serving as bishop of the Cleveland diocese, not just Pilla, Tayek said.14
The diocese had sold the house in 2003 for $696,000 to a company managed by Peter Carfagna, a board member of the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland Foundation and a high-level professional sports attorney. Of the $383,000 in renovation to the large home, Tayek said that it had all come from private donations. Jim McCarty of the Plain Dealer had done research on the house for an earlier report.15 The reporter had spoken with one of the six Dolan siblings who had grown up there. “I kind of ambushed Matt Dolan, a lawyer and former