Msgr. McAuliffe Listed as Treasurer of Our Lady of Wisdom

This past Friday Msgr. Kevin McAuliffe was sentenced to 3 years in prison for the theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars from St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.

But yet another unanswered question surfaces in relation to Msgr. Kevin McAuliffe.

Why is Msgr. McAuliffe listed as the Treasurer of Our Lady of Wisdom Byzantine Church (OLOW)?


Msgr. McAuliffe and Fr. Francis Vivona of OLOW are (or at least were) roommates supported by St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish. Why does OLOW not have corporate board members that are officials of the Byzantine church hierarchy or who are parishioners of OLOW?

Perhaps an audit of OLOW is in order.

Call to Prayer:

O Mary,
Mother of Jesus Christ and Mother of priests,
accept this title which we bestow on you
to celebrate your motherhood
and to contemplate with you the priesthood
of, your Son and of your sons,
O holy Mother of God.

O Mother of Christ,
to the Messiah-priest you gave a body of flesh
through the anointing of the Holy Spirit
for the salvation of the poor and the contrite of heart;
guard priests in your heart and in the Church,
O Mother of the Savior.
O Mother of Faith, you accompanied to the Temple the Son of Man,
the fulfillment of the promises given to the fathers;
give to the Father for his glory
the priests of your Son,
O Ark of the Covenant.

O Mother of the Church,
in the midst of the disciples in the upper room
you prayed to the Spirit
for the new people and their shepherds;
obtain for the Order of Presbyters
a full measure of gifts,
O Queen of the Apostles.

O Mother of Jesus Christ,
you were with him at the beginning
of his life and mission,
you sought the Master among the crowd,
you stood beside him when he was lifted up from the earth
consumed as the one eternal sacrifice,
and you had John, your son, near at hand;
accept from the beginning those who have been called,
protect their growth,
in their life ministry accompany your sons,
O Mother of Priests.
Amen.

~ Prayer to theVirgin Mary for Priests by Blessed John Paul II

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

Parish Bulletin Confirms Federal Investigation

A letter from Fr. James Jankowski (Interim Administrator) for St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (SEAS) was published in the parish bulletin last weekend to address the concerns of parishioners regarding Msgr. Kevin McAuliffe's continued absence due to allegations of financial impropriety.

The letter states that the Federal authorities were initially contacted with the allegations of financial impropriety against Msgr. McAuliffe. The authorities then began their own investigation and subsequently notified the Bishop.

According the the letter, nothing can be resolved in bringing Msgr. McAuliffe back to SEAS until the Federal investigation has been completed.

You can read the full letter from Fr. Jankowski on pages 6 and 7 in the SEAS bulletin 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.

Inside the Tribunal Process

A reader brought up the claim that the Tribunal in the Las Vegas Diocese handles only marriage annulments and will not handle the case with Msgr. McAuliffe. I asked a canon lawyer to clarify the role of the Tribunal, and here is the answer:

Tribunals can handle processes in addition to marriage nullity causes.  It is the church's court.  Although it functions differently than civil courts, it can handle a variety of matters just like civil courts.

It can handle disputes (e.g., a secretary alleges that she was unjustly fired by a pastor).  This is not common due to the fact that people don't know this, usually if they think of taking legal action they go to a civil court, plus the diocesan tribunal does not have any real enforcement ability except against clergy or religious.

The tribunal can handle penal processes.  For example, it can process a dismissal from the clerical state (e.g., if a priest is accused of sexual abuse of a minor) or it can impose an excommunication.

This is the basic process for handling a penal matter:

1.  A preliminary investigation is conducted by a local ordinary (by the bishop, vicar general, or another episcopal vicar).  This does not mean that the ordinary must conduct it personally, only that he oversees it.  An ordinary exercises executive power.

2.  Canon 1722 states:  "To prevent scandals, to protect the freedom of witnesses, and to guard the course of justice, the ordinary, after having heard the promoter of justice and cited the accused, at any stage of the process can exclude the accused from the sacred ministry or from some office and ecclesiastical function, can impose or forbid residence in some place or territory, or even can prohibit public participation in the Most Holy Eucharist."  It seems that this canon in part has been invoked in what the diocese is calling "administrative leave."

3.  Once the preliminary investigation is concluded, then the ordinary must determine how to proceed: whether to dismiss the accusations, whether to impose a penalty or some lesser penance or warning by executive power, or whether a judicial process must be initiated.

4.  If the ordinary decides that a judicial process must be initiated, then he must direct the promoter of justice to initiate a tribunal process.  Only at this stage is the tribunal involved.  The promoter of justice functions as the petitioner and the accused as the respondent.  Three judges must serve in the process with one of them as presiding judge.

5.  The tribunal then accepts the promoter of justice's petition, cites the respondent, determines the joinder of issues, and gathers evidence (in addition to whatever was gathered in the preliminary investigation).  The tribunal must be careful to protect the right of the accused to defend him or herself.  All of this takes time.

6.  Finally, the tribunal reaches a decision and either dismisses the process or imposes a penalty.

With Msgr. McAuliffe, it seems that they are still at the stage of the preliminary investigation.  What is unclear is, if theft has taken place, whether the police will also be involved.  What typically happens is that when criminal actions are taken by civil authorities, usually the ecclesiastical process is put on hold until the civil process is complete.  Often, the results of the civil criminal investigation is taken as evidence in the tribunal process.

New Vicar General Appointed

The Las Vegas Diocesan website has changed to reflect a new Vicar General, Fr. Bob Stoeckig. Fr. McAuliffe, now on leave due to the financial investigation at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, appears to have consequently been completely removed from this influential position, although to my knowledge, no public announcements have been made.

Fr. Stoeckig is Pastor of St. Andrew's in Boulder City. You might recall this post, about the "magical" labyrinth at St. Andrew's.

Fr. Stoeckig was quietly transferred to St. Andrew's from St. Joseph Husband of Mary about 2 years ago (correct me if I'm wrong on how long ago this occurred), after that parish's coffers were found to have been completely drained. No allegations of financial impropriety were made against Fr. Stoeckig, but the fact remains that the large financial surplus the parish had enjoyed (estimated to be over $1 million dollars) disappeared under Fr. Stoeckig's administration. For example, solar panels in the parking lot, estimated to have cost upwards of $300,000 were installed, and it unclear where the rest of the money has gone.

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 Placed on Leave

Over the weekend, the parishioners of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton were informed that Msgr. Kevin McAuliffe, Vicar General of our Diocese, would be on leave and that a financial investigation at the parish would be conducted. Fr. James Jankowsi will be taking over in his stead. Little other solid information has been made available.

It is interesting to note that the Judicial Vicar of the Diocese, Fr. Francis Vivona, is Msgr. McAuliffe's own roommate. Fr. Vivona would typically be expected to be the one heading up the Tribunal that could investigate this case. Hopefully he will be excused from this particular case, considering the disturbing conflict of interest that this would otherwise present.

Two articles published recently give few details about the situation, but here they are:
Las Vegas Review-Journal
KTNV

Msgr. McAuliffe should certainly be considered innocent until proven guilty, as are all priests who are placed on leave or investigated. Let us all pray to the Lord that this will be resolved in a timely manner, and that all innocent parties will be cleared of wrongdoing.

Call to Prayer:

Heavenly Father, we place our trust in your Divine Will, that the truth may be brought into the light and that your Holy Spirit will guide those involved in the investigation. We ask that Msgr. McAuliffe be shown your tender mercy and care, and that you strengthen your Holy Priest in his time of tribulation. Through the intercession of Mary our Mother, St. Joseph her Most Chaste Spouse, and St. Michael the Archangel, we pray to the Lord. Amen.