DOCUMENT: Round Table and Church Properties, a statement [This document was submitted to the Archbishop of Goa and Daman, following the Eduardo Faleiro initiative on church properties in Goa, and a subsequent Round Table meet.]
October 3, 2009 Most Rev. Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao Archbishop's House, Panaji-Goa. Your Grace, A Round Table Conference on the question of transparency and accountability in the management of Church properties was held in Panaji last August. Senior members of the clergy and of the laity participated. The CBCI Evaluation Report of 1995 and other documents of the CBCI [Catholic Bishops' Conference of India] were referred to. In some specific cases mentioned by the participants, flaws in the administration of ecclesiastical assets were noticed. Such lacunae should not detract from the exemplary work that the Church has done, and continues to do, in several fields. Hence, the following suggestions: * Administration of ecclesiastical assets at every level -- diocese, parish, chapels, schools -- should be transparent so that true and full information is provided to everyone who has a right to know and wants to know. A transparent administration creates trust, whereas an opaque one, even when in itself honest, raises doubts. * Laws, ecclesiastical and civil, should be observed in letter and spirit, and no effort may be made to hoodwink them. The Church, which teaches obedience to civil laws, should set an example in obeying them. * The Church may not be a democracy, as understood today, but is a communion. Therefore, it should try to carry the entire community and function on the basis of consensus and, when this is not available, by majority. * Administrative committees should comprise at least some professionals, if not elected, at least co-opted. Committees should function professionally and not in an amateurish way, which would be detrimental to the administration. Committees should function democratically, so that the parish priest is only the first among equals. There should not be any funds or moneys held and operated by the parish priest at his will. * Administrative committees, duly constituted, may be truly empowered, so that lay persons feel really responsible for the administration, as the Church are Christ's faithful and the assets of the Church are their assets. administration of the ecclesiastical assets should be their domain mainly. If this happens, priests will be left free for what is their proper field, viz. apostolate. * Persons with conflict of interest should not be party of administrative bodies for in such a case administration becomes suspect. * Monies, funds, assets donated, meant, earmarked for one purpose should not be diverted to other purposes, unless the purpose for which they are meant become redundant and proper procedure is followed, including, wherever possible, consent of the donors. * Budgets should be widely circulated before being finalized. At the end of each year, the balance sheet may be open for inspection. People may be taken into confidence regarding donations, monies received and spent. * All projects should be scrutinized in every respect before being approved. Funds generated for the purpose should be disclosed to the people before, during and after the completion of the project, so that people feel it is their project. * Necessary permission from the authorities, e.g. from the Holy See, for alienation of precious objects, should always be obtained and action taken reports filed thereafter. * There should be a Code of Conduct for administrators, and all concerned should abide by it. * There ought to be checking and auditing at every level, with internal controls, so that corrective measures are taken in time. Auditors should be experts on the subject. * Detailed inventory of monies, bank deposits, documents of property, debts, contracts, etc should be maintained and updated, so that the Church does not suffer loss due to negligence of its administrators. * At the level of the Diocese, there should be a tribunal empowered to investigate complaints of mal-administrator, and take punitive action. Mechanism for accountability of the parish priests and other administrators should be reviewed and strengthened. * If guilty administrators are recalcitrant and do not submit themselves to the discipline of the Church, Church authorities should have recourse to the State Courts to bring the culprits to justice. It may be that some of the above suggestions are followed at present, but there should be a determined effort to observe them "in toto". Thus the Church itself will apply corrective measures and strengthen its internal structures, without attracting the need of external intervention. It appears that, at least in Goa, the main problem lies at the Parish level. There is often lack of accountability of the Parish priest and of the different committees which he chairs, both to the Parish community and to the Archdiocese. Mechanisms for transparency and accountability at this level need to be strengthened with a sense of urgency. Required steps may be taken now to prevent a situation such as arose in some countries recently where the Catholic Church suffered grievously due to lack of accountability by individuals and cover-ups over a period of time. There is no reason for complacency. With assurances of our highest consideration. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ This message comes via the Google Groups "Saligao-Net" group. 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