No Financial Audits for St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in 10 Years

In the last several months the scandal at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (SEAS) has brought up a lot of questions along the lines of "Why did Msgr. McAuliffe do this?" and "How could he?"

But there is a far bigger question that faithful and concerned Catholics should be asking:

Why did Bishop Pepe avoid auditing SEAS for the entire duration of Msgr. McAuliffe's tenure as pastor?

In the Diocese of Las Vegas, all parishes are required to provide financial statements, but in addition to this, all parishes are audited every few years. That is, all parishes except St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.

According to a highly credible and trusted source familiar with the inner workings of the diocese, Msgr. McAuliffe had been refusing diocesan audits for years. According to my source, Msgr. McAuliffe claimed that an audit infringed on his rights as pastor of St. Elizabeth's and therefore insisted the parish not be audited. Now we know why.
 
While Msgr. McAuliffe and SEAS did provide the required financial statements (which we now know were falsified), the church was not actually subjected to an audit in approximately 10 years. For a parish with a multi-million dollar budget and one as big as SEAS, this is highly irregular.

So again, why did the Bishop allow Msgr. McAuliffe to refuse an audit of SEAS finances when all other parishes were subject to financial audits? This a question which has not been answered in his recent letter to SEAS parishioners, which you can read here.

Call to Prayer:

Lord God, your faithful sons and daughters are at your feet. Help us to fully give ourselves over to your Adorable Will and to trust completely in you. Bless your Holy Priests and Bishop, help and guide them so that they may always serve you first and foremost in all things. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Msgr. Kevin McAuliffe Pleads Guilty

According to articles published today in The Las Vegas Sun and the Review-Journal Msgr. McAuliffe has pled guilty to embezzling funds from St. Elizabeth Ann Seton from 2002 to 2010. This is a question of $650,000 that was siphoned off by Msgr. McAuliffe from various parish sources, including the gift shop, church missions and novenas.

Here are some other articles carrying the same story:
The Republic
KTNV
KTNV News Coverage


Perhaps this calls for a reminder regarding a previous post on this blog exposing the process for collecting novena money in this Diocese, and the fact that there is a lack of accounting for thousands of dollars worth of these donations. Read the novena post here. There is still no public response or investigation into this practice. 

Priests are human, and not immune to the temptations of the devil. Please pray for Msgr. McAuliffe, our Bishop and all the priests of our Diocese who are subject to the temptations of the world.

Call to Prayer:

O Almighty, Eternal God, look upon the Face of your Son and for love of him, who is the Eternal  High Priest, have pity on your priests. Remember, O most compassionate God, that they are but weak and frail human beings. Stir up in them the grace of their vocation which is in them by the imposition of the bishop's hands. Keep them close to you, lest the enemy prevails against them, so that they may never do anything in the slightest  degree unworthy of their sublime vocation. Amen.

~Richard James Cardinal Cushing, Archbishop of Boston, 1895-1970