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	Ill. Bishop Faces Claims He Misspent Funds on Furniture, Garments By Jim Suhr Associated Press, carried in Belleville News-Democrat January 17, 2008 http://www.bnd.com/336/story/230843.html ST. LOUIS -- An advocacy group for victims of clergy abuse implored Roman Catholics across southern Illinois on Thursday to earmark or cut back their donations to the church until complaints that the bishop misspent money can be sorted out. Pastoral groups in the 104,000-member, 124-parish Diocese of Belleville, Ill., have asked for Bishop Edward Braxton to address claims he bought ceremonial garments with about $8,000 in donations to a Vatican world outreach fund meant to help the poor. Braxton also may have bought a wooden chancery table and chairs with $10,000 from a "Future Full of Hope" fund for children and adults, the Belleville News-Democrat reported this week, citing a motion criticizing Braxton passed by the fund's board. The diocese's 18-member Presbyteral Council, headed by Braxton, had hoped the bishop would clarify the spending during a Monday meeting. But the Rev. Jerry Wirth, the council's chairman, said Thursday that Braxton told the group that only the diocese's finance council - whose members are sworn to secrecy - could deal with allegations of misuse of funds. "I guess what we're asking for is accountability and transparency by the bishop on issues, particularly on finances. So far, it seems to be a matter of obfuscation," Wirth said, noting he's "very, very worried" the diocese's faithful, given the allegations, may curtail giving. "It just looks very bad," said Wirth, pastor of St. Joseph parish in Olney, Ill. Neither Braxton nor the diocese have commented publicly about the matter. Messages left Thursday for the diocese by The Associated Press were not immediately returned. The finance council's 16 members last month signed a letter to Braxton, 63, voicing concern about the spending. A copy was sent to the pope's representative in Washington. Vatican-issued statutes strictly regulate church finances, ordering that "offerings given by the faithful for a specified purpose may be used only for that purpose." In pressing for answers, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests on Thursday urged Catholics in the diocese covering Illinois' 28 southernmost counties to donate elsewhere until Braxton is moved or disciplined - or to earmark their church contributions for specific purposes until Braxton explains the spending. The allegations, if true, "show an attitude of arrogance and insensitivity and entitlement that's just not healthy," said David Clohessy, SNAP's national director. Braxton had been dogged by questions about his spending even before he took the helm of the Belleville diocese in 2005 after serving as bishop in Lake Charles, La. Shortly after being appointed Belleville's bishop in March 2005 by Pope John Paul II, Braxton ruffled some by quickly pushing to renovate the bishop's three-story home beyond the $25,000 the diocese said it could afford. Braxton's June 2005 installation ceremony here drew about two dozen demonstrators from the Fellowship of Southern Illinois Laity, many insisting the bishop's apparent efforts to spend cash to renovate his living quarters came at a time when many in the diocese struggle to get by.
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