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THE CATHOLIC  DIOCESE OF  RICHMOND

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LETTERS

The Compassion Conundrum

They drive luxury sedans, buy widescreen TVs, and pay for junk food with food stamps. We have all heard the stories about ramshackle houses with a BMW parked out front and most of us are willing to admit that it stirs up a stew of emotions inside of us. They disrupt the pictures we paint of the working poor. This is the conundrum of compassion.

Seeing people foolishly spend money on trinkets and fringes when they live paycheck to paycheck can be frustrating. Sometimes you might find yourself shaking your head, holding your tongue, and hoping people will not characterize those on the margins by the one or two examples that are the exception and not the rule.

Of course, you only need to listen to a few minutes of today’s American conversation about poverty to realize that too many people in our community see the poor as having “champagne taste and a Kool-Aid pocketbook.”

We all struggle with this compassion conundrum. Sometimes I want to tell that young mother buying cigarettes at the 7-11 to quit smoking so she can afford to feed her kids. But that one woman, struggling to survive on a minimum wage that has not been raised in 10 years, does not represent all poverty.

She may represent someone who has been caught in misplaced consumerism. She may be a mother who is looking for anything to hide or shed her burden of need. She may be someone who finds herself in a cycle of poverty because of poor financial choices. But she becomes an anecdote, personifying a brief glimpse of a story that never shares where she is coming from or where she is heading.

Answers are not apparent for those who point to a poor person behind the wheel of a fancy car or buying lobster at the grocery store with food stamps. But if we move beyond the head shaking and the finger pointing we just might get to a point where we focus more on persons in poverty than the poverty of bad personal decisions.

This portrait of the poor, painted with broad stereotyping strokes, is not just that it misrepresents the need of others, it encourages us to consider ourselves better than others. We forget that a person in need is still one of God’s children and still related to our humanity and our creation.

We can never distance ourselves from empathy for others lest we distance ourselves from recognizing God’s great mystery called grace. Kill the conundrum; love without ceasing.

Douglas Smith, Director
Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy

Embezzlement reports cause dismay

I have been reading with dismay the reports of the two current embezzlement cases in the diocese, the first one in our local paper and the Washington Post, and now the St. Peter’s case in The Catholic Virginian’s Feb. 12 issue. When I read your editorial, I especially noted your remarks about how the collections need to be handled.

I have some thoughts after many years as an accountant and financial adviser to business owners before retiring more than 10 years ago.

I emphatically maintain business owners and officials have an important moral obligation in operating their businesses — to establish and maintain adequate financial controls and safeguards so that employees are not tempted by flaws and gaps in control systems.

I think we would all agree that most people are inherently good persons, but even good people might be tempted in moments of weakness, as when under the pressure of a personal crisis, to do something they would otherwise never consider.

It has also been my experience over the years that when embezzlement and theft are reported in government and public service organizations, there is rarely any mention of the responsibility of elected or appointed officials, managers and supervisors to install adequate controls in their areas of responsibility.

And there is never any mention of holding those people personally or legally accountable for safeguarding public funds, nor for the conditions that enabled the criminal acts of the embezzler or the thief, and for the crimes that sometimes were not discovered for long periods of time, and until large losses were experienced.

The St. Peter’s article reports that their secretary, who had worked there for 20 years, was initially charged with felony embezzlement, but she will now be permitted to plead guilty to a misdemeanor if she agrees to restitution of the $500 that she claims to have stolen.

I submit that the moral obligation to put financial controls in place is equally applicable to bishops and pastors. Bishops need to adopt strong but simple accounting and control policies, and to provide enough management oversight to insure that they are followed in every parish, not only to safeguard the funds, but to merit the trust of and keep faith with every parishioner and contributor.

I’m sure most pastors need help in this area, because very few would have professional business management education and experience.

At the same time, I recognize that where the business owner (or in the Louisa County case, the pastor) is the problem, it does present a special situation.

But again, history shows that when business owners themselves play games with corporate funds, the observant bookkeeper and accountant are the best resources available to recognize signals that controls are being violated, and to promptly alert the proper officials.

Edward C. Fritsch, Jr.
Williamsburg

(Editor: The diocese turned over its findings to the Richmond police who conducted their own investigation.)

Read the editorial >>

Read the safeguards article >>

Read the St. Peter’s article >>

Read the Lousia County article >>

Catholic schools are challenged

After reading the Jan. 29 issue of the CV which lauded the wonders of Catholic education, I hesitate to write this letter for fear of stepping on a sacred cow.

While I applaud with gusto the “idea” behind Catholic education, I must share with you that the “reality” is severely lacking.

I will confess that my insights are not those of a former student of Catholic education but come from my observations gleaned while traveling with NET ministries, a traveling Catholic ministry that ministers to high school youth all over the nation. While serving with them we visited a horde of Catholic schools from different regions of the country and during that time I noted two challenges in Catholic education worth mentioning: affluence and spiritual poverty.

Because we no longer have very many religious men or women serving in Catholic education, the cost of providing a just wage to the lay educators has driven the price of Catholic education into the realm of luxury.

In the shift to accommodate the wealthy, the priority of faith formation slipped to be replaced by the priority to provide a quality education (college prep) and strong athletic programs so as to make graduates suitably competitive for higher education.

This shift also impacted the choice of teachers. No longer did they need to be strong Catholics (or even Christian at all), instead they needed to be strong educators or athletic coaches. The result… most Catholic schools that I encountered were woefully lacking in “Catholic Christian” content.

Now I recognize that this problem is complex and there are many, many factors that have led to this sad state of affairs, but I would challenge all involved in Catholic education to re-examine their motives and methods.

Does Jesus wish Catholic education to only be available to the wealthy? (I’m sure Sts. John Bosco & Francis cringe as they see the many institutions that bear their names.)

Once again my intent is not to denigrate Catholic education but to call it back to its original vision and intent which I believe is absolutely laudable and holy.

Mario Dance
Richmond

Read the column >>

Prison ministry volunteer blessed

Recently, Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo issued a letter and survey to all parishes in the diocese at the request of the diocesan Prison Ministry Advisory Committee.

The survey is intended to help the diocese assess how well the diocese is doing in meeting the needs of incarcerated brothers and sisters in state and federal correction centers.

As a volunteer who regularly visits up to 25 incarcerated brothers in one of the correctional centers, I am extremely enthusiastic that the diocese is initiating this effort by unconditionally recognizing the importance of prison ministry to provide the sacraments and other prayer and formation programs to incarcerated Catholics in jail and prisons within their parish boundaries.

For the last 18 months, I have come upon numerous good, faithful and spiritual men who have made a mistake in their lives. Today they are serving time for that mistake.

Many are suffering extreme loneliness for they have been deserted by a once loving and caring family and friends. Many of these good men look to volunteers as a means to create a friendship. I have made several that I will always value but more importantly, many are searching for God’s love and forgiveness.

The facility I visit is but one of many correction centers in the diocese and frequently men are transferred to other facilities for varied reasons. It is true that some correction centers do not have a Catholic program in place or, if they do, some are sporadic in nature.

I am extremely thankful to the Bishop that the diocese is undertaking this most meaningful effort by recognizing the importance of this ministry and what it will mean to those who have made a mistake in their lives.

I realize that a prospective volunteer may be intimidated by crossing and entering the threshold of a prison but once they have crossed that line they will come to know many of these men and women as human beings that thirst for the same love, friendship and spiritual guidance as those of us on the street.

Speaking as one who began his career with the FBI and whose purpose was to apprehend, prosecute and imprison offenders, today I am humbled to be one who cares for and visits them in the prison.

These good men are part of my life and their friendship has great meaning to me.

Chuck Brown
Nellysford

This letter did not appear in the Web edition of the Catholic Virginian

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