June 2, 2004

Worcester diocese pays accused Priest $17,018 yearly, tax free.

Worcester parish denounces closing of St. Joseph's Church in June of 1993 and prevailed over Bishop.

Bishop Robert McManus, new bishop of the Diocese of Worcester, is a beacon of hope on the horizon for many faithful Catholics. We wish him the best and pray and hope that he will bring needed change and reform to the diocese. He has a tough job ahead of him and both he and the Church of Worcester need our help and prayers at this critical time. Some faithful Catholics have said openly the diocese is in chaos.

For those of us in Worcester who have suffered - a suffering compounded by adding insult to injury because of refusal of Bishop Daniel Reilly to acknowledge the truth and stand accountable for unthinkable sins and crimes against young people - this is far from over.

Catholics in the Boston Archdiocese are beginning to question the validity of what happened to them this week. Bishop Sean O’Malley announced the closing of 65 parishes although many of them were viable and running in the black. This insult to the faithful was compounded the following day when the Vatican announced that Cardinal Bernard Law, who was largely responsible for the moving around of priests he knew were abusing children and teenagers, was given a plum assignment as archpriest of a major basilica in Rome. This man, who should have been indicted for his crimes in Massachusetts, clearly has the favor of the Vatican. One also must question if he is being kept out of the country to avoid future legal entanglements. Boston lawyers are already promising that more will come.

Will Worcester next face the same monarchy approach? It has been said that the faithful hold the title to the parish as a community but the diocese holds the deed. Every week donations are gathered, but do we know the actual destination of this money?

We know that “taxes” - called the cathedraticum - are placed on every parish in the Worcester Diocese. Seven percent of all money collected in the baskets at Mass is sent to the chancery in Worcester.

When we question the allocation of these funds, we are immediately told of the poor and needy who are supported through various agencies. That is true - and we do not believe any Catholic wants to see poor people deprived of help and services - but many of these agencies also receive state and federal money, grants and fees from the people they serve.

It all appears to be so Christian on the surface. Everyone wants to help needy people as we were taught by our Savior, Jesus Christ.

However, when we review the actual documentation, it appears that those who have operated the chancery in Worcester have helped themselves to the finer things in life with little compassion for the poor.

According to the latest financial report of the Worcester Diocese, the cathedraticum tax on the parishes yielded $1,978,872 for the diocese. That is a pretty handsome sum. We have not even begun to look at where the money faithful Catholics pledged to the Forward in Faith campaign has gone and how it is being spent. Cash and pledges gathered in 2000 netted more than $50 million.

The Bishop’s Office expense was $123,924. One secretary is on the bishop’s payroll. Expenses for the Bishop’s Residence on High Ridge Road, Worcester, was $73,423. We know that Bishop Reilly and Monsignor Thomas Sullivan, the chancellor, were the only residents and the house is owned by the diocese.

Communications expense was $124,948. Are we talking about cell phones that chancery staff members use without concern for expense? Does this money fund the public relations activities coordinated through the diocesan Office of Communications? The Catholic Free Press additionally received $100,00 in assistance. And $224,948 for communications appears to be highly expensive.

Bishop Reilly’s expense budget was $422,295, a pretty nice living for all those poor that we support. One must conclude that those who operate the diocese live the life of luxury while the poor are thrown a few crumbs to survive on.

What really is astonishing is the wasteful spending and constant disrespect applied to those who were forced to seek legal remedies for their abuse by priests and diocesan employees.

We must remind ourselves that Patty Engdahl, who directs the Office of Healing and Prevention for the diocese, was hired for her legal expertise and not Christian compassion. She is a personable woman but she is also lawyer. The Office spent $142,645 and another $49,982 for therapeutic assistance. This seems on the surface to be an honest attempt to help those who have suffered. In reality, the applied expenses were derived mainly from using funds to procure services for the faithful and not the abuse.

Attorney Engdahl and Frances Nugent, the social worker in that office, and an office secretary were all paid out of this expense.

Additionally, the diocese allotted $118,422 for legal services. A major recipient would be the Worcester law firm of Reardon and Reardon which has helped those who abused children and adolescents to hide legal accountability in the diocese.

One must ask if the Priest’s Financial Assistance fund set at $272,656 is being used for this purpose. Were loans given to cover legal expenses that may or may not ever be paid back given the reduced financial circumstances of some priests?  Was this money from the faithful Catholics of the diocese once again used for protection from legal responsibility of Bishop Reilly and the Worcester diocese?

Catholics of the Diocese of Worcester should begin questioning whether their hard-earned money is being used to support priests removed from ministry after allegations were made. The diocesan financial report does not address this issue. 

We do know that Father Robert Kelley received support checks from the diocese even while he was in jail after pleading guilty to raping a Gardner girl. The money was cut when he started his own floral business. This information has appeared in depositions in the civil suits.  

We also know from bankruptcy records that Father Raymond Messier, who last was pastor in Athol and Petersham, told the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in 2002 that the Worcester diocese continued his $1,418 a month - tax free - after he was removed when allegations were made against him. That's $17,018 tax free dollars a year.  He told the court he expected the payments to continue.  

We know from the diocesan report made to the National Review Committee that 29 priests were removed from ministry over the years. Yet the district attorney Conte's report states 37 suspects are living priests incardinated in the Diocese of Worcester. We can not determine who is accurate. 

In the Springfield Diocese, payments just stopped after 12 years to Father Richard Lavigne. Lavigne was convicted 12 years ago of abusing two boys and he remains prime suspect in the murder of an altar boy.  

According to the diocese, he was receiving $1,030 a month for the past 12 years plus $8,800 in annual benefits. Father James Scahill, a pastor in East Longmeadow who criticized continued payments to this priest, estimated that Father Lavigne would have gotten $300,000 in the last 12 years. 

Bishop Thomas Dupre, who resigned recently when sexual abuse allegations were made against him, said he continued to pay Father Lavigne out of "Christian duty."

We would ask if the institutional church has considered its "Christian duty" to the victims?

Under the church's canon law, the diocese is required to support priests - whether active or inactive - unless they have other means of support or are defrocked. In Father Lavigne's case, he was defrocked by the Vatican in November but the payments continued.

Rather than receiving Christian compassion, to this day the events in 2002 at St. Leo’s parish, Leominster, have never been properly addressed. Those Catholic faithful children whose lives were destroyed have never had one telephone call from any member of the diocese to see if they were in need of help.

Instead, the Diocese of Worcester has refused to accept responsibility for its role in this attempted kidnapping of innocent children, all for protection of truthful and accurate information regarding reassignment to the Leominster parish of a priest accused of abusing young people.  The diocese was able to use its influence to scare off questioning parents by having the Department of Social Services attempt to fraudulently remove the family’s children from the home. The move failed miserably because the parents were willing to fight for the safety of their children. As parents, try to imagine the horror that these children went through?

In conclusion, a total of $956,018 - almost one million dollars - of money donated by Catholics was spent on self-preservation, good living and hiding sins and criminal liability. Does this seem like Christian compassion and dedication to Jesus Christ that is preached each weekend from the pulpits?

So sadly, when looked at in a knowledgeable light, the faithful have been misled and deceived.  We encourage Worcester Catholics to begin asking questions because it is their money.  Let us not ever forget the struggles of our fellow Worcester parishioners in the attempted closing of St. Joseph's in Worcester, where on June 23 of 1993 Worcester police escorted 49 parishioners from the church on civil contempt of court charges. Will your parish be next? The time to start asking questions - and receiving answers - is now.