More on the CFO Situation

Well, it seems that from my sources, the issue regarding the J. Michael Kelly may become a bit of a problem for the Archdiocese. However, they seem to be dodging it for the moment.

At first, he was the CFO, attending meetings using that title. Now they are saying was volunteering as CFO. However, like the questions I asked last week, did he receive a background check into his financial dealings, not just the standards Child Protection one? If no, why? If yes, did it show up anything wrong? Did he have access to financial information of donors?

Now, my sources tell me that the Archdiocese is portraying Thom Duffy as the CFO all along. Mr. Duffy came to Washington DC from Pittsburgh in 2006, where he worked for Archbishop Wuerl. Now, if that is the case, then why did the Catholic Standard show him as the Executive Director of the Secretariat of Finance and Management in Nov. of 2007 and not CFO? And, if you go on the Diocese website, he is not even listed. There is no mention of him at all.


Now, let me say that I did get a chance to meet Mr. Duffy a couple of months ago. I won’t say where or under the circumstances, but he was listed as Executive Director (and not CFO). My impression of him (and a number in attendance) is that he believes that he can "snowball" most people (ie, people are too stupid to understand).

Finally, someone asked me why the media has not picked up on this. I believe that the reason is three fold. One, Jane G. Bedford and Susan Gibbs have done a good job of wiping out most of the information regarding Mr. Kelly from the websites. (In fact, if you read the Archdiocese Financial Statement, there is no mention of anyone who handles the financial information about the Archdiocese -- no Finance Board Members, no CFO, nothing, nada). Second, I don't believe that the media has picked up on the relationship between Kelly and the Archdiocese. Finally, at this moment, there has been no published reports of financial impropriety. If there is, there may be more questions than answers.

I will keep you posted as I get more information.