The Archdiocese of Agana yesterday disclosed specific details of alleged financial mismanagement by Monsignor James Benavente, the former administrator of the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica and The Catholic Cemeteries.

An Archdiocesan internal review report, which was distributed inside yesterday's issue of Umatuna Si Yu'os, the archdiocese's newspaper, alleges Benavente used funds for the two entities interchangeably, used clergy stipends to make personal credit card payments and used cemetery funds to pay for his 20th anniversary reception, along with other allegations.

"The Archdiocese of Agana in the past several months has been conducting an internal review of the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica and The Catholic Cemeteries of Guam, Inc. following a determination by the accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche, that The Catholic Cemeteries was not auditable," the review report stated.

The report also states during Benavente's time as administrator of the two entities, he developed projects that resulted in the Archdiocese incurring $7 million in debt.

Pacific Daily News made several attempts to contact Benavente yesterday, but was unsuccessful.

Tim Rohr, a friend of Benavente, said Benavente had been asked by Vatican officials not to respond to the allegations.

"The real issue is that he's never been given a chance to respond to the allegations to the Archdiocese," Rohr said. "In any protocol, you don't go to the media or the public first, you go to the person. He hasn't been given a list of the accusations. These aren't new, and this is a severe breach of confidentiality."

Benavente released a statement in August after allegations were first made against him.

"Despite my repeated pleas to be presented with the written allegations of financial mismanagement and the opportunity to respond, the decision was made to go to the media and public first," Benavente said. "I am confident that this entire situation could have been resolved amicably in order to spare our community the hurt and division that exists today; however, the lesser road was chosen."

Projects Benavente administered account for 37 percent of the total debt of the Archdiocese while the remaining debt is spread among all parishes and Catholic schools, according to the report.

Upon changing administration, credit cards in the name of the Archdiocese were discovered holding balances in excess of $60,000, the report states.

"The credit card in the name of The Catholic Cemeteries was specifically used by (Monsignor) Benavente for restaurants, air fare, the Shangri-La Hotel in Manila and other five star hotels," according to the report.

In the same period those charges were accrued, The Catholic Cemeteries and the Cathedral-Basilica expended more than $123,000 toward credit card payments to First Hawaiian Bank and American Express, and an additional $23,000 of The Catholic Cemeteries' funds were allegedly used to pay for a credit card in Benavente's name, a gas card, and cellphone and data privileges, according to the report.

Additionally, the report states that $13,000 of cemetery funds were used to pay for Benavente's anniversary reception, the report states.

Operating in the red

The Cathedral-Basilica is currently operating in the red, and according to the report, this is because of actions taken by Benavente.

According to the report, Benavente offered scholarships, medical donations, employee loans and other donations from parish funds, despite a lack of available funds.

Past-due obligations for both the Cathedral-Basilica and The Catholic Cemeteries total $400,000, which does not include the $7 million owed to First Hawaiian Bank, the report states.

The monthly income generated by the Cathedral-Basilica is "insufficient to pay for both past due and current" obligations, according to the report.

Monsignor David Quitugua, who is the Cathedral-Basilica's current rector, issued a letter to parishioners yesterday that said the parish will need to increase revenues in the coming months and years to address incurred obligations.