CATHOLIC SEE FINANCE PROBLEMS FREE
"Mertens made recommendations regarding best practices, including measures to improve transparency regarding financial data of the archdiocesan central corporation," the statement said.Ĭhurch leaders didn't provide specifics except to say they'll release full, audited financial statements for fiscal year 2013 in February.ĭomeier and Jennifer Haselberger, chancellor for canonical affairs at the archdiocese through April of last year, said the chancery worked to keep the controversies of priests secret.įrom the criminal complaint: The archdiocese hired a forensic accounting firm to investigate Domeier's transactions after he had broken archdiocese policy and accepted free airline tickets from a vendor. The archdiocese declined an interview request but issued a statement saying that Thomas Mertens, brought on board as chief financial officer in December 2012, had started implementing procedures for greater transparency. "Because what was behind those requests for payments never got into our files, and that was on purpose." "Everybody knew not to ask questions," Domeier said, referring to the payment system. That's exactly how top church leaders crafted such settlements, said two former top officials inside the chancery. Kozlak also insisted that the matter was a private issue between him and the archdiocese. He said that he and church leaders lived up to their "ends of the bargain" regarding his retirement agreement. "These are matters that I have dealt with and I have taken care of in my life," said Kozlak, who still lives in Annandale. Kozlak, 72, declined to discuss his retirement agreement in an interview Tuesday with MPR News. Items with these codes included expenses for therapy costs for victims and priests.ĭocuments: Browse all of the documents related to MPR News' Betrayed by Silence investigation Account 1-516, meanwhile, paid costs related to the abuse of adults, or to financial misconduct. One such account, numbered 1-515, paid costs connected to priests accused of sexually abusing children. Payments associated with clergy misconduct came from separate, secret accounts, depending on the type of behavior involved.
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The clergy misconduct budget was so well concealed that a trained eye wouldn't notice the spending, Domeier said.
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Thousands of pages of private, internal archdiocese documents analyzed by MPR News detail a stealth financial system that included payments to persuade priests to leave active ministry, financial support for children fathered by priests and money for legal settlements.Īrchdiocese leaders made payment decisions with little consideration of how they might hurt the church's budget, said Scott Domeier, a former top archdiocese accountant who exploited the secrecy to steal more than $650,000 from the archdiocese. Millions, however, went for very different purposes. Pastors are already feeling the financial pushback from Catholics who donated to the church believing their money went to benevolent causes. Local parishes, however, could be hardest hit over time. The archdiocese says it can weather a financial storm. Today, the archdiocese is facing a slew of lawsuits over clergy misconduct that threaten to cripple it financially at a time when schools and churches are closing, donors are aging and there's concern over two major fundraising campaigns. The secrecy, however, also left the church vulnerable to embezzlement. Lax accounting controls let church leaders cut checks to make problems go away. The system allowed archdiocese leaders to remove priests who had committed child abuse or other infractions without attracting attention. Ignatius in Annandale until he was forced to retire in 2003. John the Baptist in New Brighton, Most Holy Redeemer in Montgomery, Immaculate Conception in Lonsdale and St.
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Stanley Kozlak was ordained in 1974 and served at St.