The CFO Issue...

Well, this issue of finances and the Archdiocese of Washington DC just won't rest (at least in my mind):

1. The Archdiocese website shows a news release of June 30th news release on the appointment of Mr. Duffy as the new CFO. Funny, it wasn't there before July 7th. I guess I will need to make certain to get a couple of screen shots from now on.


2. The press release is exactly the same as the Catholic Standard article. I guess that is why the by-line is entitled: "Special to the Standard."


3. Why does the Archdiocese not publish the names of the members of the Finance Council? Many parishes publish the names of their Parish Advisory Councils and Finance Committees, why is the Archdiocese hiding it?


4. Finally, my sources tell me that Mr. Kelly is still hanging his hat over in Hyattsville. What gives?

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Help defeat Montgomery County's Gender Identity Bill 23-07 this November. Go to http://notmyshower.net.

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The Archdiocesan Finance Council - A Question

The Archdiocese, like many parishes, has a Finance Council. Sometimes it may be called the Finance Committee. But no matter what the name, they usually have the same basic types of responsibilities.

In general, most finance councils usually review the needs, resources, and budget of the diocese and advises the Archbishop and CFO on the appropriate distribution of funds and on allocation adjustments where required. The usually meet on a regular basis - a couple of times per year.

The Council is made up of individuals whith a combination of expertise in accounting, finance, stewardship, and business management to serve responsible use of the monetary resources contributed by the diocese as a whole. They may have additional duties too, depending upon the diocese.

So, one of the questions that I am asking today is:

Why has the Archdiocese of Washington DC Finance Council allowed J. Michael Kelley to continue to serve in any capacity, once he was indicted.

There are only two possible explanations.

One, they advised Archbishop Wuerl to get rid of Mr. Kelly, and he has ignored their request.

Two, it does not phase them.

If Option One took place, then Archbishop Wuerl has shown very poor judgement in the handling of the finances of the Diocese. If so, this is another area in which he has lost credibility with the people of this Diocese and is no longer a good steward of our finances.

If Option Two took place, then both the Archbishop and Finance Council are no longer good stewards of our finances.

(to be continued tomorrow...)

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Help defeat Montgomery County's Gender Identity Bill 23-07 this November. Go to http://notmyshower.net.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

NObama '08

Archbishop Wuerl: What Gives? (or An Open Letter to the Archbishop)

Dear Archbishop Wuerl:

When it was announced by the Catholic News Service (CNS) that Archdiocese of Washington DC CFO John Michael Kelly (aka "J. Michael Kelly"; aka "Mike Kelly") was indicted by the Securities and Exchange (SEC), we were told a couple of different stories.

Story One: He wasn't the Chief Financial Officer. (However, that was hard to believe, since he it was reported as such by CNS and he had represented himself as such at various meetings, in documents, etc.)

Story Two: Thom Duffy was the CFO. However, no where does he or the Archdiocese represent him as such, at the time of Kelly's indictment. In fact, I even have one document which shows he was not the CFO at the time Kelly was indicted. He was only the Executive Director of the Secretariate of Finances and Management.

Story Three: He was only volunteering his time.

My sources tell me that after his indictment, he announced that he would be "advisor" to you starting June 2, 2008. Mr. Duffy would be the CFO.

However, no where does it show that Mr. Duffy is the CFO. The area on your website for Financial Management has only a phone number. There is not even a listing for Thom Duffy on your website. You would think that an important position like this would be announced to the faithful.

When a priest has been accused of sexual misconduct and it is found "credible," he is immediately visited by the Director of Personnel, and at least one or two other priests. He is ordered to vacate the rectory within 24 to 48 hours. He is told not to say public Mass, hear confessions or conduct baptisms. He is told to stay off of Church property unless given permission to be on it. In some instances, there is a car waiting outside to take him to St. Luke's.

So, I ask you, if you can do this to a priest, why did you not ask Mr. Kelly (who was indicted by the US Government) not to vacate the premises immediately? Why does he still have his office? An office that equals that of the Moderator of the Curia and Vicar of Administration and that of Chancellor. You would think that that office should go to Mr. Duffy. Granted, you are the boss and can give anyone any office but to someone who is indicted?

On Tuesday, June 24th, the Archdiocese Finance Council held their first meeting since the indictment. The purpose of the meeting was to present the Archdiocesan Central Administration budget for the fiscal year starting on July 1st. Unfortunately, "CFO" Duffy was on vacation. And you know who presented the budget: Mike Kelly.

Why do you keep someone who has been indicted for fraud, involved in the finances of the Archdiocese?

All I ask is "WHY?"


Signed,


AWashingtonDCCatholic

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Help defeat Montgomery County's Gender Identity Bill 23-07 this November. Go to http://notmyshower.net.

+++++++++++++

NObama in 08

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.

An Open Letter to Archbishop Wuerl re CFO Scandal

It has been a busy week here at the blog -- first w/ VOTF and now the CFO issue.

Having thought about this and discussed this, there are a number of unanswered questions (among many) about J. M. Kelley who was indicted by the SEC earlier this week.

So, I am publicly posting these questions to the Archbishop and the Archdiocese.

• Who hired J. M. Kelly?
• Is that person still around (it is my understanding that it was Jane Golden Bedford -- the Chancellor for the Archdiocese)? If yes, what did she know and when did she know it?
• Was a background check completed on Mr. Kelly? (And I do not mean the one for Child Protection.) If yes, what did it show? (If there was an SEC investigation, it should have come up.) If there was information that he was being investigated, why was he hired?
• Was there any indication of malfeasance with the Church's fund? If yes, what was done it about it?

From what I can gather, just before the story broke, the Archdiocese and Catholic Charities removed any indication that of Mr. Kelly's name from their websites.

What this reminds me of is the case of Fr. Lee. You remember him, the priest who was a Navy chaplain accused of sexual misconduct. The Archdiocese claimed they never knew anything about this until they were informed of the charged by the Navy. Besides, they said, he was under the Archdicose of Military Services, so it does not concern us. Yeah, right.

BREAKING NEWS: SEC sues Washington Archdiocese's CFO for alleged fraud while at AOL

J. Michael Kelly, chief financial officer of the Archdiocese of Washington, is among eight former America Online executives who have been named in civil lawsuits filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with an alleged accounting scheme that inflated the company's reported advertising revenues.

For more, CNS.

Yesterday, someone posted a comment about this but I was unable to confirm it (could not find anything that stated that he was the CFO of Archdiocese of Washington) which is why I did not post the story yesterday. Therefore, to ANON, I thank you but I hope that you understand that I needed to find something that stated the above, and was unable to do so.