Render Unto Rome_ The Secret Life of Money in the Catholic Church - Jason Berry [205]
ESTIMATE OF LOSSES DUE TO SUNDAY COLLECTION EMBEZZLEMENTS IN THE U.S. CATHOLIC CHURCH
ESTIMATED CUMULATIVE LOSSES 1965–2010: $2,317,036,000
* Annual loss figures are based upon an estimation that collections in 20% of existing parishes lost an average of $25,000 in CY 2010. Losses for other years shown in left column were computed by applying the Consumer Price Index to the CY 2010 estimation.
† Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, http://cara.georgetown.edu/CARAServices/requestedchurchstats.
html.
‡ Estimated from trend reflected by CARA figures.
26. Alan Gomez, “Bishops Look at Fleecings of Flocks,” USA Today, February 18, 2007.
27. Julie Shaw, “Priest Admits Stealing from School: Sex Abuse, Drug Use Alleged,” Philadelphia Daily News, March 10, 2009; Joseph A. Slobodzian, “Judge Calls Priest Liar; Sends Him to Prison for $900,000 Theft,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 22, 2009.
28. Andrew Greeley and William McManus, Catholic Contributions: Sociology and Policy (Chicago, 1985), pp. 2–3.
29. The study by Joseph Claude Harris, The Cost of Catholic Parishes and Schools (Kansas City, MO, 1996), is cited in Charles E. Zech, Why Catholics Don’t Give … and What Can Be Done About It (Huntington, IN, 2000), p. 13.
30. Zech, Why Catholics Don’t Give, p. 71.
31. Jack Ruhl, personal communication with the author.
32. See “Mercer Actuarial Study,” National Religious Retirement Office, www.nccbuscc.org/nrro.
33. Fred Kammer, SJ, “The Jaynotes Interview,” Jaynotes: The Magazine of Jesuit High School in New Orleans, Graduation 2008 34, no. 2 (2008): 28.
34. Fred Kammer, SJ, Faith. Works. Wonders. An Insider’s Guide to Catholic Charities (Eugene, OR, 2009), pp. 63–64.
35. Cindy Wooden, “2006 Vatican Budget Closes with Surplus; Peter’s Pence up $42 Million,” Catholic News Service, July 6, 2007.
36. Robert Mickens, “Church with a Midas Touch,” The Tablet, September 27, 2008.
37. The Nature and Scope of the Problems of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests and Deacons in the United States. The report underreported the number of victims; John Jay researchers did not interview attorneys with long experience in litigation for victims, nor groups like Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests to cross-reference what the bishops reported. For a solid analysis of the report, see Mary Gail Frawley O’Dea, Perversion of Power: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church (Nashville, 2007).
CHAPTER 1: BOSTON IN THE FAULT LINES
1. Walter V. Robinson and Michael Rezendes, “Geoghan Victims Agree to $10m Settlement,” Boston Globe, September 19, 2002; Kevin Cullen and Stephen Kurkjian, “Church in an $85 Million Accord,” Boston Globe, September 10, 2003. The settlement negotiated by attorneys was $85 million, covering 542 victims. The archdiocese later came to terms with a small number of victims who filed their own claims without counsel, boosting the final settlement to an estimated $90 million for 552 victims.
2. For a concise account, see Boston Globe Investigative Staff, Betrayal: The Crisis of the Catholic Church (New York, 2002). The authors—Matt Carroll, Kevin Cullen, Thomas Farragher, Stephen Kurkjian, Michael Paulson, Sacha Pfeiffer, Michael Rezendes, Spotlight Team Editor Walter V. Robinson—and Deputy Managing Editor for Projects Ben Bradlee Jr. shared a 2003 Pulitzer Prize and other awards.
3. Michael Paulson, “Diocese to Mortgage Seminary, Cathedral,” Boston Globe, December 9, 2003.
4. Phyllis Berman and Lea Goldman, “Catholics in Crisis,” Forbes, September 19, 2005.
5. Michael Paulson, “Diocesan Headquarters Sold to BC,” Boston Globe, April 21, 2004.
6. Marie Roth, genealogical tree and personal communication with the author, May 16, 2009.
7. Paul L. Williams, The Vatican Exposed: Money, Murder, and the Mafia