Voice
of the Faithful Focus – A brief update
highlighting both a problem in our church and
some progress being made as we work together to Keep
the Faith, Change the Church.
Problem: According to an audit conducted
by Deloitte Financial Advisory Services, Fr. Michael
Jude Fay,
who recently resigned from St. John Parish in Darien
CT may have spent over $1.4 million in parish
funds for personal purposes. The report released last week
stated that this included $720,000 that Fr. Fay allegedly “expended
from a hidden bank account unknown to the diocese
and the Parish Finance Council”. The allegedly misspent
money consisted of $515,000 that Fr. Fay withdrew through
checks made payable to cash or to himself and approximately
$829,000 in credit card charges with parish funds,
the audit report says. Fay’s alleged improprieties
became evident early in 2006 when the parish became
unable to pay its bills, including a $25,000 outstanding
loan balance to People’s Bank. A pattern of financial
irregularities had reportedly been noted to
Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport last year but nothing
was
done until a private investigator hired by the parish’s
bookkeeper and assistant pastor brought the situation
to the attention of law enforcement officials. The
time for accountability is now!
Click
here to learn more about our Campaign for Financial
Accountability.
Progress: A federal bill (HR 4472) to create a national
database of convicted child molesters was signed
into law by President Bush last week. Our justice
system continues to take this issue more seriously
each year. But there is still a pressing need for
other sexual abuse laws to be reformed to allow survivors
of clergy sexual abuse their day in court. Meanwhile
we will continue to request that the United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) set up their
own national database of credibly accused priests,
since most abusive priests will not be listed in
a law enforcement database, until the laws change
allowing more survivors to bring forth charges via
the judicial system.
Click
here to learn more about our Campaign to Protect
Children through legislative reforms.
Look for the next Vineyard edition to be sent on August
24.
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