Former Boston Archdiocescan Chancellor David Smith Asks Attorney General and Secretary of State to Investigate, Pension Victims' Abuse Group Forming

Earlier today, former Boston Chancellor David Smith (2001-2006) asked Attorney General Martha Coakley, Secretary of State Bill Galvin and the IRS to investigate the Archdiocescan pension plan.

Terry Donilon's personality is starting to shine:

Terrence C. Donilon, a spokesman for the archdiocese, reacted angrily to Smith's criticisms.

"It's outrageous -- when David Smith was chancellor, we were running annual deficits and we are now running a balanced budget,'' Donilon said. "If he wants to get into a give and take about his performance as chancellor, which included serving as a trustee of the plan, I'm sure a lot of people would like to do that. But we have prepared a good plan to address the lay pension plan for the future."

Lots of expertise in modeling Christ at 66 Brooks Drive.

I hope this didn't lure these humble and repentant men away from planning ceremonial lamentations and washing of the feet to circulate nastygrams.

A balanced budget?

Who do they think they're working for, Congress?

Let's cut to the chase: When Smith handed it over, the pension was more than fully funded:

The church's pension plan, which was more than fully funded in 2007

They have a good plan.

Here it is:

They're paying 10 Chancery cronies 3 million dollars and 'balancing the budget' by ripping off employees of their pensions. Employees who spent years taking low salaries because they wanted to serve Christ's Church and His people.

Do they think this is something to crow about?

Nobody is impressed that the growing circle of friends of Jack Connors making 300,000
+ is "balancing the budget" by robbing people of their pensions.

The Globe repeated the independent advice they got from a pension specialist who said it's a terrible idea unless hospice is at your house and you're dying:

The move is intended to allow the church to reduce its liability and wind down the fund earlier. But a pension specialist interviewed by the Globe last year said the deal is a bad one for employees, unless they have been diagnosed with a terminal illness and know they won't be around to accept the monthly payments when they retire.

There's evidently some virtue in deceiving people so they can voluntarily screw employees out of their pension rather than mandating it:

Donilon said the lump sum offer was voluntary.

"The options were presented to people, and it's been done with a good deal of thought and professional input, and with the sole purpose of serving the beneficiaries to the best of our abilities," he said.

There was a good deal of "thought" and professional input all right.

When they told the employees to grab their money and run - because the faster the wizards spend it, the greater the likelihood of bankrupting the pension - they "thought" more people would take the money if they forgot to tell them their pension plan was guaranteed.

Here's the devastating statement from David Smith.

I am here today because almost 10,000 people, most of whom worked for years at low wages in service to the Catholic Church in Boston, have their retirement pensions endangered by a reckless attempt by the Archdiocese to shirk their financial commitments by changing the previous “defined benefit” plan with guaranteed benefits to a “take your share of whatever happens to be left” offering. Conflicted trustees are doing this through coercion and deceit, and by withholding information needed to evaluate their offer.....

Curiously, absent from their presentations on funded status is any reference to the obligations of the Trustees to invoice the participating institutions as needed to meet Plan liabilities, the liquidity of many of the participating employers or the obligation of these employers to fund the Plan as directed by the Trustees. For example, paragraph 19.3 of the pension plan says:

“Each employer shall periodically make contributions which … are sufficient on an actuarial basis approved by the plan’s actuary to fund the costs of the plan arising with respect to the participants…”...

In summary we have:

Coercion
Deceit
Shifting of funds set aside for by one corporation to benefit another
Conflicts of interest
Selective offers
Breach of promise to fund liabilities of closed parishes
Material non-disclosure
10,000 or so victims of pension abuse
The tax status of the beneficiaries at risk

The Secretary of the Commonwealth and/or the Attorney General share responsibility to address these breaches of public trust and to protect the best interests of these citizens of the Commonwealth. I urge them to take control of this plan away from those with conflicts of interest who have broken the trust of the beneficiaries and have acted wrongly, and to appoint an independent trustee to correct this situation and protect the 10,000 people at risk.

Please read Smith's statement in its entirety.


I'm sure the diocese was hoping to quickly settle with the Daughters of St. Paul so that their financial records would never be on the receiving end of a subpoena for discovery.

In this morning's post, I spoke about Cardinal O'Malley timing his letter gushing about Chancellor Jim McDonough to send the message he was setting his face like flint.

That letter may actually turn out to be a very embarrassing indictment of Cardinal O'Malley and his administration.

Smith also said he plans to meet today with a group he has provocatively dubbed "Boston Pension Abuse Victims.'

Like all people who abuse power and the people they are entrusted, they're full steam ahead on the road to their destruction. Sadly, they don't even know it.

Bon Voyage gentlemen.

Don't miss the excellent coverage of this story at BCI.

When the Enemy of Our Enemy is Not Our Friend

For the past few days a controversy has erupted over whether Boston Chancellor Jim McDonough told squatters illegally holed up in our shuttered parishes (purportedly costing Boston Catholics Ten Million Dollars) that the archdiocese plans to slash 140 parishes.

McDonough said Thursday that he visited members of an occupied church in East Boston, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, to ask them to end their vigil "for the good of the entire archdiocese."

Steven Ashcraft, a member of the Council of Parishes, which opposes the church closings, was in attendance and told The Associated Press that McDonough discussed the church’s financial difficulties and made the remarks about parish reductions.

Ashcraft said he asked if more churches would close, and McDonough responded that the archdiocese would like to get down to about 150 parishes. Ashcraft said he was surprised at the low number.

"I mean, I can understand it. I can understand it, if there’s no money," Ashcraft said. "Everybody’s just fed up with them."

Ashcraft’s version of the conversation was corroborated by vigil member Lorenzo Grasso, who was at the meeting.

"There was nothing to misunderstand about," Grasso said.

I have a few things to say about what Lorenzo Grasso is doing there in a Massachusetts minute.

In terms of having 'nothing to understand' about what McDonough was saying, I'm afraid that is simply not the case.

We are used to the word 'parishes' to mean a locus with one Church in it.  But parishes can actually mean a reconfiguration of the word parish to mean a larger locus of Churches with one pastor at the head.


Ms. Lorenzo has been leading illicit and invalid services in Our Lady of Mount Carmel for six years:

Lorenzo Grasso, 58, of Revere, a Eucharistic minister who has served Holy Communion at Our Lady of Mount Carmel since 2004 without sanction from the archdiocese, also said that McDonough essentially said at the meeting that churches would close. “Churches, parishes, it’s the same thing, basically,’’ Grasso said. “I mean, what else would he be talking about, the birds and the bees?’’ 

I have been telling national leaders for years that the situation in Boston is ground zero for the forces of Catholics who are trying to restructure the governance and structure of the Roman Catholic Church.    This internal schism has been cooking for 40 years.

Cardinal O'Malley has appointed and given these forces the freedom to do what needs to be done to make these changes.  These individuals are now have complete control over fundraising, hiring employees and Catholic education.   The structure here in Boston is no longer headed by a Cardinal.   He is out of the picture.  Completely.   This has been already achieved and there is chaos.


The reason why we are at the fork in the road as to "who" is going to be the "underground" Church.    Here is one woman who is setting up a dossier to be used in this struggle.  Read the last paragraph for details.  Here is a op-ed on her work.  The thesis is very forthright in explaining how they are using 'insider priests' in Boston to carry out these "reforms".

I am conflicted about the fix for having 150 priests for 300 Churches.  Women simulating the Sacraments are poised to take over in the Reconfiguration and do what they are already doing, undisciplined, in our parishes have been shuttered and in some parishes with the absolution of renegade priests inside of operating parishes.

Catholic militants have their work cut out ahead of them and this is another process that is on our radar.

In terms of our buildings that have been hijacked, I am of the firm belief that the archdiocese should use the courts and the police to evict squatters inside of these closed Churches and padlock the doors.  Ten million dollars in five years is money we are not using to evangelize and these hundred or so people are doing much damage to themselves, to others following their schism and to every Catholic who wants to minimize the effects of the misfeasance of the wizards in the Boston Chancery.

The time has come.

The Boston College National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management is Now in Full Control of the Archdiocese of Boston

Many national Catholic leaders surprised by the turn of events here in Boston under Cardinal O'Malley will often ask me specifics about what we see going on at the ground level.

As I've said before, one of the reasons why Boston Catholics have decided to publicly air their concerns in a blogging community is to give people a few central locations where a more accurate picture of what's going on - who the Cardinal has appointed and what is happening under the power structure the Cardinal has erected  - can be seen.

The National Roundtable of Church Management is now in complete control of the Archdiocese.   The Cardinal is no longer in control of anything.  For example, this is why Bryan Hehir had the confidence to contradict the Cardinal's ambiguous statement about a policy that will defund pastors if they teach Catholic moral principles in schools.

The mission of the "roundtable" was to get control of the money so that they could get control over the doctrine.

How this is playing out means various things to various people.

This focus on this blog has been and will continue to be about how the Deposit of Faith, and ultimately the salvation of souls, is going to be affected by the changes in Church structure now fully implemented by Cardinal O'Malley.

I'm not going to say too much more today because I want you to each take the time to review the short flick I have embedded featuring J. Bryan Hehir on how to effect Church Management nationally.

In a nutshell, the goal is to structure the power of the Church in America away from the structure of the Pope and the catechism and onto wealth controlling priests and bishops on the local level of the parishes and chanceries.

I have made some comments about responsive strategy over on Boston Catholic Insider on this thread that I believe will have efficacy in uprooting the regime.  Controlling a Cardinal is about controlling the money.  Jim Post was right about this and it certainly is in full swing in Boston.

While those of us focused on the sacraments and salvific mission of the Catholic Church don't really care about the money, I do believe that it is imperative that we round up the Shaughnesseys, McNeices, Flatleys, Opus Dei, Legatus and other people and apostolates who have wealth and interests in maintaining the structure of the Church headed by the Pope, pack up the resources we are assembling and give them a demonstration about the power structure Cardinal O'Malley has erected and the cost to Christendom.  They want to play games with controlling the Archbishop with money?  I am dealing myself a hand and am in the game.  These efforts will be getting underway shortly.  We have a few more critical revelations to archive so stay tuned.

This week, the Pilot featured an article written by the Vicar General about the access to prayer and the faith the Cardinal and the Vicar General have at the "Pastoral Center".

We would all like to be edified by the personal prayer habits of the Cardinal and the Vicar General.  I wish we could.  But the reality is, the people in the parishes are being terrorized when they express concerns about  invalid Sacraments or the eradication of Confession or our children demoralized with priests and lay people who reject the tenets of our faith or our liturgies being trampled and scandalized or being told Adoration and the Rosary scares people or our kindergartners sexualized by people who have them repeating "vagina" and "penis" in ccd classes thinking this absolves Corporation Sole from hiring and coddling pedophiles or children confirmed without knowing their prayers or what is happening at the Holy Mass, anything about Humana Vitae, Theology of the Body or people like Maureen Hancock coming in to perform the tricks of a sorcerer and the false 'god' "reiki" or the abortion contracts the Cardinal's administration is signing right under his nose or the marxists Bryan Hehir is bringing in to brainwash unsuspecting Catholics across the nation.

Frankly, I and many others are not edified by the article about the personal prayer habits of people who are keeping the deposit of faith unto themselves up there at the Pastoral Center.

While they are trying to save their own souls, they have set up an administration that is making it impossible for the flock to save their children's souls or have any access to the truths of our faith.

It really is a lovely article but please beg our pardon when we say this:

The Pastoral Center is supposed to be a place where the administrators have the duty to protect, defend and distribute the temporal goods of Christ Church to THE PEOPLE.  It is not about the personal salvation and prayer habits of the Cardinal, Vicar General and their staff.    The administrators at the Boston Archdiocese are holding the Catholic religion in bondage.  And, they are terrorizing people who are demanding It's release for THE PEOPLE.  THE PEOPLE out here in the parishes who are subject to the aforementioned lunacy.  The structure of the Roman Catholic Church in Boston is being dismantled and preparations are underway to infect the rest of the Catholic Church across our nation with the false church erected in Boston.

The efforts under way are not going to happen under the radar while some of us are still breathing.  All of the money, every last nickel, in the portfolios of the Boston College National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management is not going to stop the testimony of many Catholics who are standing ready to reveal what is going down.

And, here is what is going down:




Did you hear anything about the structure in our dioceses and parishes to the Roman Catholic Church in Rome headed by the Pope?

Teaching the flock the source and summit of our tenets outlined in the Catechism?


This priest has been defrauding Catholics for 40 years. He is tapped into those who hijacked Jack Kennedy's name to use the Kennedy School of Government to break down democracy in America.

He is positioned to break down democracy AND the Roman Catholic Church at the same time and he is getting away with it.

Cronyism in the Boston Archdiocese

I must say that even I am blown away by the cronyism in the Archdiocese of Boston being unraveled by our friends at Boston Catholic Insider.

Jim McDonough and Ann Carter (formerly of Abington Savings) have stacked the Chancery with bank tellers and other former bank employees who have bupkis in the way of Catholic credentials or experience in the roles they were given.

What is McDonough's head bank teller doing as the Cardinal's Executive Secretary?   It' a fairly high-level admin job that would require a seasoned executive secretary and Catholic.

And, according to last night's weekly Boston Catholic blogger conference call, there is more to come.

Between the fiefdoms of Jack Connors and McDonough, it would be one heck of a power point presentation to put together how their cronies helicopter from one of their fiefdoms to the other.  

Don't these people have to sign a conflict of interest policy?

Nepotism, Conflicts of Interest and the Micks on the Make in the Archdiocese of Boston

If you ever suspected underhanded money laundering schemes for favors going on at the Boston Chancery, do not miss the most recent posts at BostonCatholicInsider.

And, the BCI bloggers tell me there is more to come on the nepotism and greasing of palms between all the characters at the Boston Chancery.

Lord Have Mercy!!!

Is it any wonder there is a gag order on the teachings of the Church as they send forth pied piper David Thorp to bring in more wallets?

With all their amazing ingenuity on how to set themselves up to line their own pockets with cash being posted to Boston Catholic Insider, isn't half past time Cardinal O'Malley called up the Vatican to get Jim McDonough, Rasky and Jack Connors some kind of an honor at some dicastry?


Call this a hunch, but I think they've run out of good will and favors from the National Catholic Bioethics Center so I don't think you'll be seeing them rushed in to do a report on how ethical it all is.

At the very LEAST, the situation merits a post and a couple of dozen pictures of themselves on Cardinal Sean's blog on what an asset they all are up at the Pastoral Center.

Story Developing on a Money Grab at Boston CatholicTV (BCTV)?

For the past few months, several sources have been alerting Catholic activists to Boston Archdiocesan Chancellor Jim McDonough's attempts to grab money out of the coffers of Boston Catholic TV to cover the bad debts of the Archdiocese.

I'm digressing here..but have I mentioned the Archdiocese spends close to 7 million a year keeping closed parishes open for the wingnut squatters who are "in vigil" holding bogus ceremonies and faking sacraments?!!  Seven million!   They were trying to claim the buildings were still being used for a 'non-profit' purpose to avoid paying taxes.  Call this a hunch, but now that the towns are removing the non-profit status of the buildings and they have to pay taxes, the crazies are going to get the bums rush?

Anyhoo, the structure of Boston Catholic Television is a totally separate entity that leaves no way for the Chancellor to mingle the money.   And, BCTV has a huge boodle of cash (and always has) that is generated by fundraising and endowments, etc.

Our sources have been telling us the fight for the cash has been heating up in the last several weeks.  Though there is no way to verify the story, I have heard from enough sources to feel comfortable enough to send out an Amber Alert to those of us watching and exposing the corrupt takeover of Catholic Church in Boston to "follow the money" at BCTV.

Today, an email was sent to several Boston Catholics from an anonymous source which I will just share in its entirety:

There will be a board meeting of CatholicTV on June 17.  CatholicTV is an independent non-profit corporation, not financially controlled by the Archdiocese of Boston.  Jack Connors, Neil Finnegan, Jim McDonough, and a group of their cronies have told O'Malley that the statutes of CatholicTV must be legally changed to put it under the financial control of the Archdiocese.  Their take-over is to be pushed through the CatholicTV board on June 17.  Father Reed and the CatholicTV leadership are dead-set against this, but are afraid they will be forced.

I'm not sure the reason for the demanded change - presumably so McDonough and company will be able to take or borrow from CatholicTV's extensive savings.  Perhaps to fund the Archdiocese's new development office that is under Connors' control.  (To keep on S**t Landry and his crew in their new secretariat, new income is needed.)

McDonough has once again threatened to quit if O'Malley does not make this change, which is what he successfully did in the removal of S**t Landry from the development job.

BTW - this is the first any of us heard that Jim McDonough bartered to have Mr. L**dry removed with the Cardinal by using threats to quit, but he was(and is) indeed deeply involved in (as in people are making the snowballs under the radar and he is firing them) the coup of the Archdiocese.

We are trying to get more details about this and will update the story as soon as we have them.