Following the Money in the Archdiocese of Boston

The latest focus at Boston Catholic Insider has been the salvos from the Archdiocese of Boston (I no longer say the Archbishop because in practice, Boston does no longer has an Archbishop) the Chancellor's claim that there simply is no money to pay out in pensions. They're too broke. This of course conflicts with the mega-salaries offered to cronies of Jack Connors who, in place of the absence of the role of the archbishop, is building his own fiefdom (carrying out the plans of the Boston College National Roundtable of Leadership on Church Management).

BCI revealed yesterday, that in addition to six superintendants of schools underneath Mary Grassa O'Neil, Connors has brought in six more mega-salaried employees to 66 Brooks Drive.

There's more mismanagement of money where this came from, but our experts are estimating that 30 pastoral employees in the Connors fiefdom are draining 4 million dollars a year from the coffers of the Archdiocese - 1/4 of the Annual Appeal.

In our weekly conference call, I spoke about our de-funding the Appeal initiative that lay people will be launching in 2011. I am now convinced that in addition to de-funding the Cardinal's Appeal (since, among other things, it is more accurate to call it the Jack Connor's Appeal) we need to disconnect the 18% siphoning from our parishes. I realize the magnitude of accomplishing this, but if we can convince a large percentage of pastors that we have stopped giving at the parish level because we don't want to fund the Jack Connors regime at 66 Brooks Drive and that we will tithe at the parish level if they cut the 18% going to the Jack Connors regime loose, we'll all be much better off.

The question of what will they or what can they do about it if we can enlighten foot soldiers in strategic parishes about what is going on at 66 Brooks Drive and can convince a large number of parishes not to give the 18% has already been answered.

They will do the same thing they did when lay people took over parishes and have been squatting in them for close to ten years. They don't have the spinal fortitude to do anything about it. We need to start using the cowardice to our advantage.

We have already been fractured from Rome here in Boston. The coups d'état is complete. The structure where the Archbishop heads the diocese has been dismantled. Lay people are in control of the money, they are busy writing "policies", they have built a hierarchy independent from Rome. We've got to stop funding it.

Stay tuned for more details in the next week about the first 'policy' that is stripping the Catholic identity from our Catholic schools.