Render Unto Rome_ The Secret Life of Money in the Catholic Church - Jason Berry [82]
Lennon’s letter deals at length with new procedures for co-payments and matters on health insurance. A passing reference to the $600,000 decline in donations amid the scandal chalks it up to “quite simply two bad years.”
The letter avoids any discussion of how the parishioners’ donations to the annual fund for the clergy retirement needs were actually spent. Instead, Lennon cites an earlier letter by Father Mark O’Connell, facilitator of “Clergy Fund”—a generic, umbrella term. O’Connell had soberly reported
the same issues that have plagued every financial entity of the Archdiocese; namely, the effects of the poor economy, the huge increases in health care cost (most especially prescription costs), and the financial effects of the Clergy sex abuse scandal. I can assure you that these funds are a high priority with Bishop Lennon, but all of us need to be prepared to face this difficult issue in the near future.
“Not all is bad news,” resumed Bishop Lennon, with property and liquidity high in mind. “In fact, I believe I can give you good news concerning some of our past investments in Real Estate.”
Clergy Funds purchased [an unnamed] home in Pocasset, Massachusetts for $1,750,000.00 in June of 1999. Also in May of 2001, the Clergy Funds purchased Our Lady’s Hall in Milton, Massachusetts for $1,900,000.00. Finally, the Clergy Funds made a loan of $4,150,000.00 as part of the re-development of the St. John of God Hospital in 2001. It was thought at the time that this project would house Senior Priests, however, upon further reflection the Advisory Committee have [sic] decided to go in a different direction.
In David Smith’s deposition he stated that his power as chancellor, or chief financial officer, had a limit of $1 million on which he could sign a check involving property. Any disbursal above that—and final approval on big-ticket issues—resided with Cardinal Law. As Lennon composed his 2003 letter, Law had been gone a year, not yet promoted to Rome. Six months earlier Lennon had stepped down as Law’s interim successor. The time frame is important, for the aforecited paragraph implies that Lennon had a major hand in real estate transactions. In his letter, Lennon then turns to the seven-month period in which he had interim control, after Law’s resignation, in December 2002:
As Apostolic Administrator, I authorized the sale of two properties that had been bought, and I concurred with the Advisory Board to end our involvement in the St. John of God project. As a result of these actions, the Clergy Funds have recovered all of its original investments and have made a profit as well. The home in Pocasset sold for over $2,550,000.00 and after expenses the Clergy Funds realized $2,433,073.00 for a profit of $683,073.00. Our Lady’s Hall was sold for $3,300,000.00 and after expenses realized $3,135,000.00, for a profit of $1,235,000.00 Finally, we received all of the $4,150,000.00 back from the St. John of God investment, plus interest totaling $521,054.30. All of this money, totaling $10,239,127.30, has been returned to the original Trusts they came from. (emphasis added)
With his powers before the advent of O’Malley, Lennon pulled in a profit just under $2.44 million in real estate transactions for the interlocked “Clergy Funds,” which suggests another name for the controlling account, Clergy Benefit Trust. Not a bad profit. But the “good news concerning some of our past investments in Real Estate” obscured the bad news: the missing millions given by parishioners on those designated Sundays from 1986 until 2002. Substantial though they are, the real estate profits in Lennon’s seven-month tenure come to roughly six months’ donations by parishioners for the priests’ retirement, which averaged $4.5 million per year. Where had all the parishioners’ money gone?
“By 2001, the Boston archdiocese knew of allegations against at least 190 priests,” states Anne Barrett Doyle of BishopAccountability.org. “Only about 25 of those cases had appeared in news reports before the Globe series in 2002.