FROM A PUNITIVE TO A COMPASSIONATE CHURCH (seventh of a series) tags: #Talibon #Punitive V TRANSPARENCY AND PUBLIC ACCOUNTING OF CHURCH FUNDS Observations There is no transparency and public accounting of church funds at the parish and diocesan levels in the DOT. At the parish level, the system of safekeeping, counting, depositing collections, offerings, mass stipends, fund-raising incomes, leaves much to be desired. At the diocesan level, there is no economus, cashier, and auditor in place. On both levels, monthly and annual financial reports are lacking. Where they are done, it cannot pass the standard of a professionally prepared financial report. In BEC organized parishes, there are lay people assigned to Temporalities. Their role is limited to collecting, reporting and submitting support funds from clusters. The role of spending, disbursing and accounting is reserved to the priest. Auditing is nowhere to be found. Analysis Bishops and priests are not trained to manage nor administer money. It is to be expected that when they do, irregularities arise. Parishioners who graduated with business and accounting degrees, who manage banks, who run big businesses are more qualified to manage church money. But their skills are not harnessed by the parish and diocese. The Church legislated a way for dioceses and parishes how to handle money matters. On the diocesan level, Canon 492 §1 says: “In every diocese a Finance Council is to be established, over which the diocesan bishop himself or his delegate presides and which consists of at least three members of the Christian faithful truly expert in financial affairs and civil law, outstanding in integrity, and appointed by the bishop.” On the parochial level, Can. 537 says: “In each parish there is to be a Finance Council which is governed, in addition to universal law, by norms issued by the diocesan bishop and in which the Christian faithful, selected according to these same norms, are to assist the pastor in the administration of the goods of the parish, without prejudice to the prescript of Can. 532.” Finance Councils are a must in all dioceses and parishes of the world. There are also provisions in Canon Law regarding the appointment of Finance Officers on the diocesan and parochial level. It is my experience that collection increases when the priest is transparent with the church finances and when lay people are involved in their management. Compared to government institutions, corporations and government entities, the church lags way behind in terms of money management. While these institutions have financial systems in place – cashier, treasurer, auditor, liquidation of funds, ombudsman for erring officials, - the Church has only the bishop and priest to decide everything on financial matters. While government officials and private company officers go to jail or are suspended for stealing government or company money, nothing of this kind exists in the Church. Ordained perpetrators are just “moved around”. While parishioners trust their priest to be honest on money matters, the absence of check and balance and the lure of money is too much of a temptation to resist. Proposal 1. Establish a Diocesan Finance Council and Parish Finance Councils in every parish. Include auditing in their task. 2. The diocese should appoint a lay Diocesan Finance Officer and every parish should have a lay Parish Finance Officer. 3. Establish a good system of handling collections in parishes. The safekeeping and counting of collections should not be done by one person only. A minimum of three people should count collections no matter how small it is. 4. Parish monthly financial reports and annual financial reports should be a standard operating procedure in parishes. Reports maybe announced at all masses or published in the Sunday bulletin. A reliable and professional financial report is one signed by a reputable public auditor or auditing firm. 5. The diocese shall follow the same as the parish standard operating procedure. 6. The diocese and parishes may adopt a common computer program for recording, accounting and reporting of funds. Computer accounting programs are now cheaper, simpler, and readily available. CONCLUSION Rome was not built in a day. The Diocese of Talibon is what it is now after 25 years of continued service and ministry of the bishop and the priests. It has accomplished much as a diocese. Yet, as in all dioceses, there are areas for improvement. The abovementioned observations, analysis, and proposals are presented in an attempt to improve what is already an established diocese north of Bohol. It cannot be done in a day. Maybe it will take another 25 years to bring them to fruition. We might not live to see the fruits of our efforts at changes and improvements. What is important is not that we reach our destination, but that we are on the right direction towards the destination. I hope and pray that this paper will make a difference in the priestly ministry and the lives of the faithful of the Diocese of Talibon. Fr. Roque “Khing” Vaño Carmen, Bohol 10/24/11 (to be continued... next post: Postscript 2013)
Posted on: Sat, 03 Aug 2013 00:41:40 +0000
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