Although the Synod of Bishops on New Evangelization is almost over, Rome heard an appeal today for one factor in the church’s missionary success that hasn’t yet had much echo among the bishops: transparency and responsibility when it comes to handling the church’s money.”
And so John L. Allen, Jr., began his Oct. 24, 2012, National Catholic Reporter blog, Transparency on Money and the New Evangelization.
Allen was reporting on the presentation given by Fr. Daniel Mahan, director of the O’Meara Ferguson Center for Catholic Stewardship at the Marian University of Indianapolis, during a conference held in Rome at the same time as the Bishops Synod, which ends Oct. 28. Fr. O’Meara’s talk was called Rendering an Account to the Faithful, and his take away quote, “Holiness is the fruit of transparency.”
Now, read the Synod’s intervention by Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, President of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See. His take away quote, “In cases of the possible bad administration of ecclesial goods, as therapy, the evangelical medicine of fraternal correction must be applied. Before denouncing to the authorities, personal confrontation must be applied to give the possibility of reformation and repairing. Transparency does not automatically mean the publicizing of evil which leads to scandal.”
Financial scandal, like the scandal of clerical sexual abuse, is enabled by lack of transparency. Voice of the Faithful® has said as much in its Financial Transparency and Accountability paper distributed last month at its 10th Year Conference.
Voice of the Faithful ® 