Tom Gallagher's blog

From the Boston Herald:

Here in Connecticut we've had more than our fair share of embezzlement/theft/larceny by Catholic priests.

Today, NBC News is reporting that the Connecticut state police have opened up an investigation of a priest in the Diocese of Norwich.

According to NBC News:

We'll have to see what happens here as the investigation continues.

Richard Grafer, a financial expert at Pathway Investments, LLC, in Port Washington (Long Island), N.Y., has long held the view that the Diocese of Rockville Center saves too much cash for the proverbial "rainy day." In other words, the diocese should be using these funds today -- now -- in furtherance of the church's mission in this part of the world, not holding it back in its coffers.

Grafer's analysis is thorough and quite specific. Grafer distributed the following analysis and report Wednesday, and he concludes that diocese has $82 million to $103 million in excess -- that's right, in excess -- of industry standards.

From Richard Grafer:

From the Connecticut Post:

As if on cue, a Belgian priest working in Austria has come out apologizing for publicly sharing the names of Catholics who have resigned from the church.

His apology sounds lame. The priest had to have known that at a minimum, there was a high risk of embarrassing the named individuals and their families. The priest claims he was trying to emphasize to the congregation that they need to focus on building up the parish. He could have done that by de-identifying the names, by talking in real numbers and in trends and so on. Naming names was bush-league, and he looks to be facing legal problems as a result.

According to the Austrian Times:

Here's a new form of evangelization: Publish the names of all the Catholics who have formally left the church.

A pastor in an Austrian church did exactly that. What was he thinking?

The Vienna archdiocese immediately apologized. According to ABC News, "a statement says those affected have been asked 'for forgiveness,' noting making the names public 'is not allowed by state or church rules.' Those who formally renounce their membership in the Austrian Catholic church are freed from paying the mandatory church tax."

From ESPN:

According to WKTV-Utica, an NBC affiliate:

Amarillo Bishop Pat Zurek broke his silence to Karen Smith Welch, the Amarillo Globe-News reporter who has been ably covering the dysfunctional relationship between Zurek and one of his priests, Fr. Frank Pavone. Pavone is the national director/president/chairperson of no fewer than three anti-abortion charities: Priests for Life, Inc.; Gospel of Life Ministries Inc.; and Rachel's Vineyard Ministries.

According to the Amarillo Globe-News:

According to the Virginian-Pilot newspaper:

Catholic bishops and priests do not make a lot in terms of annual compensation in their respective roles. On the other hand, permanent housing, food, pension benefits and health care coverage ain't too bad a deal, all things considered. I know of one bishop who likes to boast to his priests that he takes "no salary" (which is both funny and delusional, given the large estate on which he lives, an entertainment budget, a car and driver and numerous benefits he receives).

In the Protestant world, there are some pastors whose total compensation would make even some on Wall Street blush. Over at Huffington Post is a story on pastor compensation.

An excerpt:

While paging through the glossy Christie's Real Estate magazine this weekend, I came across the unusual headline announcing the sale of the "Private Home of Pope Innocenzo X."

The property description goes like this:

"This magnificent property in Piazza Navona displays original Renaissance frescoes and decorations that are considered artistic masterpieces. Commissioned by Pope Innocenzo X in 1645, the 400-square-meter, or around 4,305-square-foot, home has vaulted ceilings and a balcony viewing the piazza and Bernini's Fountain of Four Rivers. This is a unique opportunity to live amid historical ambiance."

No doubt. The cost to live in such ambiance: "Price upon request."

For more on this property, including 28 pictures, see Christie's website.

According to the Associated Press:

The great NFL quarterback Fran Tarkenton, who played from 1961 to 1978, has an opinion piece in today's Wall Street Journal describing his futile attempt to get God's intervention in three Super Bowl games. Tarkenton places the current excitement around Denver Broncos quarterback, Tim Tebow, an outspoken evangelical man-of-God, into perspective.

In a decision that should be hailed by the U.S. bishops' Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty, a federal appeals court upheld a U.S. district court's decision allowing the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Oklahoma to sue to prevent a xenophobic state law from implementation.

Time will tell if the U.S. bishops are serious about religious liberty by the way in which they come to the defense of Muslims, whose religious liberty appears most threatened in the United States.

From The Associated Press:

With longtime liberal U.S. Rep. Barney Frank from Massachusetts retiring from Congress this year, the Wall Street Journal reports:

Back in October, I blogged that the Allentown, Pa., diocese lost its appeal in paying a health care provider for services provided to one of its priests, Fr. James Mulligan, who slipped, fell and injured himself.

The diocese lost its appeal for re-argument and will be required to pay about $264,000 to the Lehigh Valley Health Network:

Well, according to the Great Falls Tribune, a "local boy done good" is coming home to celebrate Christmas Masses in his hometown of tiny Hobson, Mont.:

Some of Thomas Nast's cartoons, such as this 1871 drawing, have stirred opposition to plans to honor him in New Jersey. (Harper's Weekly)From the Wall Street Journal:

Bill Donohue, the one-man show at the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, recently sent out his year-end fundraising letter. Donohue focuses his letter on people and organizations who "want to take down the Catholic church."

According to Donohue: "Almost alone, we brought attention to the evidence -- ignored by the John Jay professors -- that homosexuality was involved in almost all abuse cases. Not to report this was sheer dishonesty, and we refused to play the game" (emphasis included).

He goes on to boast of a "grand slam" by showing "beyond a shadow of a doubt" that the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) is a "well-organized anti-Catholic front group."

Donohue trumpets a surprise press conference he held in front of the "Catholic-hating Kansas City Star newspaper." This was done to "strike back against all the familiar players out to get Bishop Robert Finn," who was indicted by a local prosecutor for failing to report a priest to the police after Bishop Finn had plenty of notice.

Of course, Donohue claims that the Obama administration, among others, is threatening religious liberty.

The few weeks before Christmas generate more dinners with good friends than any of the prior months.

On Friday evening, my wife and I dined with two other couples for our annual holiday dinner. We had a wonderful time. I asked our friend Carol if her 6-year-old daughter, Fiona, has generated any hysterical one-liners, which she regularly does.

Carol shared this story:

The Wall Street Journal reports on the plight of Christians in the Middle East:

The anecdotal reactions to the new English-language prayers officially implemented Sunday break down into predictable categories. Those who dislike the changes describe them as simply bad and unreadable English, inhibitors to authentic prayer. Those in favor of the changes commonly use the term "poetic" in praising the new prayers. The quiet middle seems philosophical about accepting the new missal. Most appreciated the efforts by local parishes to prepare the congregations for the change-over.

Here are some reactions I collected Sunday.

At the Mass I attended, one octogenarian woman kept leaning over to the 40-something woman next to her and saying, "This is stupid. This is stupid. I'm never going to learn these changes," she said. After Mass, the older woman kept bemoaning the changes as she left the building.

A new flower blossoms in the Arab Spring and involves the legendary music producer, Quincy Jones, who has collaborated with Emirati social entrepreneur Badr Jafar, to jointly produce the Arabic charity single entitled "TOMORROW/BOKRA." The song involves 24 leading Arab artists from 16 nations across the Middle East and North Africa singing with one voice for a better tomorrow.

CNN, the global media partner to this initiative, offered this report:

One of the main goals of NCR's Mission Management column created by our dear friend Joe Feuerherd, publisher and editor-in-chief of the National Catholic Reporter from 2008 until his death earlier this year, is to highlight best practices and ideas that, when well-executed, change peoples' lives. Since 2009, as the lead writer for this column and with the considerable help of NCR colleagues, friends and readers, I have been able to scour the country and identify good examples of mission management in action.

One of the perennial tension points in the not-for-profit space continues to be the issue of how much a charity, including parishes and dioceses, should be run like a business and whether a business model is, in fact, an applicable model for charities. Much has been written on this topic by academics, philanthropists, business executives and charity managers.

The newly minted and urgently created U.S. Bishops Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty will be tickled to learn that the U.S. Air Force Academy is officially making room for pagans, druids, witches and Wiccans, according to a story in the Los Angeles Times:

Today's New York Times editorial captures the high price of Alabama's radical new immigration law. For those championing the move to airlift more than 11 million undocumented immigrants back to their birth countries or those trying to concoct a dastardly law like Alabama's, they ought to pay close attention to the true cost of such ideas.

Back in 2004, President George Bush proposed comprehensive immigration reform:

The Huffington Post has a compelling story on the New Yorker's Thanksgiving cover story:

"No stranger to controversial cover art, The New Yorker Thanksgiving issue depicts a gaggle of pilgrims scampering under a starry sky.

"A woman crawls under a barbed-wire fence that could be the U.S.-Mexico border. Two men, sweat dripping from their hats, sprint across the barren landscape.

"The illustration is entitled 'Promised Land.'

"'American politics tend to be very practical and open-minded, so why would you consider throwing them out?' Cover artist Christoph Niemann told Huffington Post LatinoVoices. 'The debate should be about how can a country benefit from immigration. America depends on immigration. The discussion will be more valuable if it is focused on benefits.'"

From the university's press release:

New York Times columnist John Tierney writes today on the life-changing effects of gratitude. It's a good read.

"The most psychologically correct holiday of the year is upon us.

"Cultivating an 'attitude of gratitude' has been linked to better health, sounder sleep, less anxiety and depression, higher long-term satisfaction with life and kinder behavior toward others, including romantic partners. A new study shows that feeling grateful makes people less likely to turn aggressive when provoked, which helps explain why so many brothers-in-law survive Thanksgiving without serious injury."