BishopAccountability.org
	When the Church Flock Gets Fleeced By Patrick Cassidy Cape Cod Times May 16, 2008 http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080516/NEWS/805160342 Jeffrey Windle is not the first person accused of stealing money from a church on Cape Cod. And the Congregational Church of South Dennis, where the Harwich Port man was volunteer treasurer until last week, is not the first local religious institution to deal with a theft. "Every church has the same problem," Charles Zech of the Center for the Study of Church Management at Villanova University said in an interview last week. "Every church is simply too trusting." During a hearing at U.S. District Court in Boston, an FBI agent testified that Windle may have taken between $200,000 and $400,000 from the South Dennis church. Windle has been charged in federal court with the alleged embezzlement of almost $5 million from a Natick company where he worked. Investigators believe he may have misappropriated as much as $12 million total, spending the money on at least five boats, a fleet of cars and million dollar homes on the Cape and in Florida. His arrest highlights a crime that Zech said isn't unusual. A study he co-authored two years ago examined internal financial controls in the U.S. Catholic church. It found 85 percent of Catholic churches that responded to a survey had been victims of embezzlement in the five previous years. Of those thefts, 11 percent were of $500,000 or more. Most churches of all denominations rely on volunteers to collect and count money donated each Sunday by parishioners. Without proper controls small amounts of money, in particular, are susceptible to theft. Embezzlement on a larger scale is more likely committed by a church leader, according to the Zech's study. In the most famous local case, the Rev. Bernard Kelly confessed in 2003 to taking nearly $900,000 from St. Joseph's in Woods Hole and Our Lady of Lourdes in Wellfleet. Kelly was ordered to seven years of probation. He paid back the stolen money with interest in a settlement with the churches but the crime prompted a review of accounting procedures among Catholic churches in Southeastern Massachusetts, said John Kearns, spokesman for the Fall River diocese. Proper accounting needed "The diocese has issued to all of our parishes policies that should be followed with regards to finance," Kearns said. Many of the procedures were in place before Kelly's conviction, but a new pilot program has recently been implemented to test compliance, Kearns said. Although the Villanova study focused on Catholic churches, there are problems across the religious spectrum, Zech said. And, with all faith communities on the Cape struggling financially, the need for proper accounting procedures is more important than ever, said Diane Casey Lee executive director of the Cape Cod Council of Churches. Officials from several local churches and religious organizations said they have those financial controls in place. "We do have an audit committee," said John Caspole, chairman of the board of trustees at the First Congregational Church of Falmouth. "They are independent of any other committee or operation so they don't have any conflict of interest." A series of about 50 questions must be answered during each audit. Responses are used to determine if changes need to be made, Caspole said. Financial duties are divided among multiple people so that there are a series of points where income and expenditures are documented, he said. At the First Congregational Church of Yarmouth, an outside auditor will soon verify an existing annual internal audit, said Donald Ten Eyck, chairman of the board of trustees for the Yarmouthport church. The church has a finance and investment committee that oversees the big picture "but you always have to trust and verify," Ten Eyck said. The current treasurer has been on the board of trustees for 20 years and is beyond reproach, he said, but an outside audit will protect him as well as the church. "If I was treasurer I would insist on it," Ten Eyck said. "I think what makes it difficult for religious organizations is you have so many small donations in your income stream," said Rabbi David Freelund of the Cape Cod Synagogue in Hyannis. Things may be a little easier to control in a synagogue because no one collects donations from members during services in the way churches handle collections, he said. Members of the Brewster Baptist Church are encouraged to give by check, said Pastor Douglas Scalise. The checks are another way to audit what is coming into the church, he said. The church financial manager produces a monthly summary and much of the information is also included in a newsletter distributed to members, Scalise said. Part of the reason for such care is found in the Bible, Scalise said. "Paul writes in one of the books in the new testament that you have to avoid even the appearance of impropriety," he said. Patrick Cassidy can be reached at pcassidy@capecodonline.com.
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