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	Churches Seek to Stem Embezzlement of Funds Millions Stolen Nationwide over the Last Five Years By Jay Tokasz Buffalo News June 2, 2008 http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/360470.html White-collar thefts uncovered since 2004 have cost a combined $1.7 million in four Catholic parishes and a Catholic school in Erie County. The parish pilfering isn't limited to Western New York. Church leaders across the country are wrestling with how to prevent what once was thought of as an unthinkable crime. One study suggests that embezzlement of funds has cost churches nationwide millions of dollars over the past five years. The Archdiocese of Omaha, Neb., has experienced a string of five major thefts since 2006, including two by priests and one by a nun, according to the Omaha World-Herald. A parish priest with a gambling problem was charged in May with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from church accounts in Westchester County, and clergy recently have been prosecuted in Philadelphia; Palm Beach, Fla.; and New Haven, Conn. How does it happen? Experts say it results largely from a lack of oversight and too much concentration of financial duties in the hands of one person. "We're too trusting," said Charles Zech, who heads the Center for the Study of Church Management at Villanova University. "No one would expect a priest or minister to embezzle or a church worker to embezzle." In 2006, Zech and another professor at Villanova, Robert West, surveyed 78 chief financial officers in U. S. Catholic dioceses — 85 percent of whom said their dioceses had experienced some form of embezzlement within the previous five years. Eight of the responding dioceses had embezzlements totaling more than $500,000 during that time, the survey found. Michael W. Ryan, a retired federal law enforcer who lives in Canton, Mass., has been warning about church embezzlements for years on his Web site, www.ChurchSecurity.info ., where he lists numerous stories of thefts and provides tips on how to protect Sunday collections. The problem isn't specific to Catholicism, said Zech, although it may be discovered more readily in Catholic parishes due to the hierarchical nature of the Catholic Church. At least locally, the thefts seem to have become more frequent or at least much larger, said Erie County District Attorney Frank J. Clark. "Certainly the dollar amounts, they've increased geometrically," he said. "You used to see thefts of $14,000 or $16,000." In the most recent cases prosecuted by Clark's office, the stolen amounts ranged from $230,000 to $488,000. Each of the embezzlements occurred over a number of years, but none of them was particularly sophisticated, said Clark. The thefts could have been detected much earlier with a little more vigilance, he added. In one case, the church pastor observed the office manager stuff envelopes into her purse, but the woman wasn't forced to resign until nine months later, he said. The accused embezzlers had few checks and balances on their handling of parish finances, Clark said. Zech found a similar pattern in the course of his survey. "There has to be some sort of monitoring system," said Clark. "When one person handles all the money — the collection, the depositing and the accounting — you're just asking for trouble." Zech recommended that dioceses conduct random audits in parishes as a way to detect theft and as a deterrent against embezzlement. Church leaders say they're trying to prevent any future theft. Bishop Edward U. Kmiec said it was too expensive and unwieldy for the diocese to do annual audits of its parishes. But he recently organized a panel of accountants and law enforcement professionals to help "ensure that the gifts of our parishioners are used as intended." The Archdiocese of Omaha implemented a centralized computer system to keep tabs on parish finances. "I don't know that we had necessarily the mechanisms in place to catch a problem if there was one before," said the Rev. Joseph C. Taphorn, archdiocesan chancellor. "We need to be cautious with the people's offerings." And a few Catholic colleges and universities have started courses and programs in parish management aimed in part at protecting church funds. In the most recently prosecuted parish theft case locally, Bonnie L. Radigan, 61, former executive assistant business officer at St. Andrew Church in the Town of Tonawanda, pleaded guilty in May to stealing $280,000 between 2001 and 2007. A series of new internal controls was put in place following the shocking discovery by an audit last fall that funds went missing, said the Rev. John P. Mack, pastor since 2006. Mack acknowledged in an e-mail that "for people who want to think ill of the church, an embezzlement just confirms them in their thinking." But some parishioners, he added, already had expressed forgiveness. "Christ's ministry of reconciliation is what we are to be about as a faith community whatever the situation," he said. The embezzlement won't adversely affect parish ministry and programs of the church, which has about 2,000 families, Mack said. The Rev. William Bigelow described the embezzlement at St. Mary of the Lake Church in Hamburg as a "terrible tragedy" and a "violation of trust." Linda M. Kolarz, a former secretary of the parish, was fired in 2004 after an audit showed she had written checks to herself and others totaling more than $230,000 between 1997 and 2003. Bigelow, who was appointed pastor of St. Mary in 2007, said the parish was not hamstrung financially because of the embezzlement but is always in need of money, especially to support its school operations. The theft hasn't seemed to have an impact on parishioners' giving, he said. "I'm sure there are some people — I would guess, nobody has said it to me — but some people would be a little hesitant," he said. Parishes might seem more susceptible to theft than other places, but where there's money, there's temptation, said Bigelow. "Talk to any bank, talk to any insurance company . . " he said. "They have cameras everywhere, and they still get stung." Contact: jtokasz@buffnews.com.
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