My first response to this article, is a resounding, cynical, "Duh"! And simply nails another coffin into the religion I left years ago.
A survey by researchers at Villanova University has found that 85 percent of Roman Catholic dioceses that responded had discovered embezzlement of church money in the last five years, with 11 percent reporting that more than $500,000 had been stolen.
But then, it is the first study to look at embezzlement in the context of a religious group. I wonder how the fundamentalist Christian groups in their crystal cathedrals would fare? Is it hypocrisy on all levels?
Or is it, as the article suggests, simply a lack of financial oversight and fiscal accountability because these are faith based organizations and people place too much trust in basic human nature? The article reports that the Catholic Church actually has some of the strictest financial policies and controls written directly into Canon law, but that these are routinely not enforced or followed.
Regardless, the whole thing leaves me with a not so fresh feeling.
