BishopAccountability.org
	Faith Groups Need Financial Oversight By Elizabeth Tylock South Florida Sun-Sentinel October 25, 2006 http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/letters/sfl-br26xoct25,0,3348398.story?coll=sfla-news-letters Two priests, John Skehan and Francis Guinan, are accused of misappropriating in excess of $8 million because, as one of them commented, he was underpaid and deserved it as he was the CEO of a huge business. No priest should see, touch or handle donations from parishioners. Monies should be made payable to a special account designated by a budget oversight committee comprising parishioners and then the checks should be picked up by an armored car service and transported to the bank of choice. All checks should be countersigned by no less than three budget members and audits should be conducted twice yearly. The message these priests are communicating to us is that religion has become big business. Not only is the Catholic Church paying out huge sums of money to sexual abuse victims, now the parishioners who have deprived themselves of necessities in order to tithe to the church, watch helplessly as their funds are channeled to property owned by the priests, to their girlfriends, to pay for their expensive vacations and their gambling in Sin City. These priests are laughing at us because they have lived the good life as the parishioners have donated their hard-earned monies to keep them in the style they have become accustomed to. Let's return to medieval times and burn these wrongdoers at the stake. If they wanted to be recognized as a CEO in a large corporation, why did they choose the priesthood? This is a wake-up call to all parishioners: do not continue to tithe until budgetary controls are put in place to protect your hard-earned monies.
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