Saturday, September 25, 2010

Audits Needed for More than One Reason...

St. John Vianney in Brookfield, WI cannot seem to catch a break. Their previous pastor was arrested for probably stealing around $128,000. Now, the parish has been the target of a cyber crime in which $121,000 was stolen. Amazingly, $84,000 was recovered before it "technologically" left the country. In previous posts, I have stated the need for parishes to have audits, largely because of in-house theft. At this point, it does not appear that this instance is a case of in-house theft. It could be a case of a virus stealing the needed financial information from one of the employee's computers or an e-mail phishing scam.

Nonetheless, the two-fold purpose of an audit is to ensure that a company is 1) keeping accurate books and not stealing, and 2) making sure no one else can easily steal from you. The second option is more rare, but is perhaps becoming easier because of the possibilities available with on-line banking.

Thankfully, the Archdiocese had decided while Dolan was here to enact bi-annual audits for all the parishes in the Archdiocese. Right now the first wave of parishes are undergoing audits and next year the second wave of audits will get the rest of the parishes. If these auditors are any good, hopefully, they will enact safety measures at our parishes to ensure that this will not happen again. This could all be bad timing. If St. John Vianney had had their audit three weeks ago, perhaps this would not have happened. In any case, I am happy the Archdiocese had already put a comprehensive audit plan in place before this theft occurred.


A Faithful Catholic

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Pink Smoke over the Vatican

A new movie is premiering in Chicago in a week and a half: Pink Smoke over the Vatican.

Chicago Premier of
Pink Smoke Over The Vatican

WHAT: Women's Ordination Conference's 35th Anniversary - Making It Happen in Our Lifetime


This is a movie about the Women's Ordination Movement. Details are below and a trailer can be found at: http://eyegoddess.com/pink_smoke.php

WHEN: Saturday, September 18, 2010

6 p.m. Movie Premier (Doors open at 5:45p.m.)
7:30 p.m. Dinner Buffet and Silent/Live Auction


WHERE: Irish American Heritage Center
4626 North Knox Avenue, Chicago

Tickets: $60
Free parking

Cash bar

One can register for the event here: http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e2yeoejud0ea23e5

A Faithful Catholic