Roman Collar Amnesia?
September 4, 2007, 2:57 pm
Posted by Paul Lauritzen
The Plain Dealer has a story today about the ongoing financial corruption trial in Cleveland. They report that some diocesan employees actually use an acronym for the apparent memory lapses of the diocesan officials who have testified in court.
“We call it RCA, or Roman Collar Amnesia,” employee Janice Hesselton testified during the federal kickback trial of a former diocesan accountant, Anton Zgoznik.”
To read the whole story, click here.
I went down to the Courtroom today, but all the proceedings were apparently conducted in chambers. I hope to get back to the trial later in the week.
That’s the thing about trying to come up with a catchy meaning for RCA that will play well in the press. If the acronym hadn’t been spelled out in the article, I would have mentally run through all of the RCA’s below before having a eureka moment when I came to “Roman Collar Amnesia.” :)
Radio Corporation of America
Retail Contractors Association
Reformed Church in America
Research Chefs Association
Recycling Council of Alberta
Royal College of Art
Rose City Astronomers
Root Cause Analysis
Recovering Couples Anonymous
and, last, but not least,
Rabbinical Council of America.
Alberto Gonzales as clerical role-model. I had though there was someting about him.
Kudos for Jan Hesselton, an employee of the Diocese of Cleveland for giving it a name: Roman Collar Amnesia. As one reviews the contents of the McCarty article on last week’s events in the federal courthouse, it seems that Pilla’s and Wright’s “RCA” throw a shadow of doubt over the credibility of the Diocese of Cleveland and the federal government’s attempts to prosecute Anton Zgoznik and eventually, Joseph Smith.
As it turns out, according to McCarty’s article, Pilla and Wright both made it clear that Joseph Smith was a stellar diocesen employee much beloved by the former bishop and well-respected by his peers at the Diocese. This fact is not made apparant in earlier articles on this financial fiasco.
As well, it seems that Wright authorized bonuses and additional income on his own authority and only confessed what he’d done to Pilla after a whistleblower came forward. Bonuses he admitted in court that he would have given Smith anyway.
So in essence, this fiasco is really all about additional income okayed by one boss without the head boss’s knowledge, which the head boss actually felt that the employee deserved after all.
Meanwhile, in the backdrop, Plain Dealer and New York Times articles about this trial have turned up a whole laundry list of questionable financial dealings involving both Pilla and Wright in which both of them allegedly benefited (undeservedly, I might add). Kind of ironic.
I can’t help but to ask, “Who should actually be on trial here, “Roman Collar Amnesia” or not?
I have heard that sometimes the collar can get too tight.
You must keep in mind that the feds have had this case for two or three years now and that they have indicted only Anton Zgoznik and Joseph Smith. While some Catholics might like to see the feds investigate and perhaps indict some clerics, this investigation has produced no such charges. The accused have for more than a year made accusations about hidden accounts and undisclosed pay-offs, but there has been little paper proof of the accusations. So far in the trial, the only surprise account that has shown up was a Fidelity account, and Wright testified that the signature on the application was not his. One of the directions I would like to see explored (but this seems beyond the present indictments) is which Tax Identification Number was used on which account. Apparently, Pilla’s own SSI may have been used on one or more, and the diocesan EIN was used on others. There was one unproven accusation that the TIN on one account was switched. Also, I understand that businesses and non-profits can have more than one EIN. Federal law does not require church entities to disclose all their EINs to their members, but I think it should. The term “accounts” could mean separate bank accounts (each of which would have to be linked to a TIN) or rather separate accounts within the diocesan accounting office. It sounds to me that the diocese was shuffling funds within its own office, something my local school district does in the course of a fiscal year to cover unforeseen expenses.
Correction: Pilla’s SSN (Social Security Number), not “SSI,” my error.
One article discussing Tax Identification Numbers is here:
http://reform-network.net/?p=222
For more interesting background, go to the text of the motion filed by Philip Kushner on behalf of Joseph Smith at http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/abbott/070220. He does a pretty good job of outlining the extent and the nature of the “shuffling” that went on.
As a former full-time Director of Religious Education who couldn’t make a living in full-time ministry, I am appalled at the amounts of money that were literally thrown around, especially when one condsiders how the Church is financed!
Don’t get me wrong, I understand that, at least to some extent, the Church has to offer competitive salaries- which it rountinely fails to do among its employees who work where the rubber-meets-the-road, but what the article describes, if true, is indefensible. Misfeasance/malfeasance on a grand scale.
It is sad when the Church has to be called to account in civil courts of law.
Did you all notice that this article quotes the defendent’s laywer almost exclusively? That is not a fair piece by any journalistic standard.
Keep in mind, that from an ecclesiastical standpoint, there is a reason Bp. Pilla resigned. I was more interested in his answers to the questions during courtroom proceedings, which hardly vindicate his poor leadership and abdication of responsibility. Again, who holds the bishops accountable? Apparently the civil court system!
If people needed more of reason to give less to the Church, here they have it! No matter how you slice it, what occurred in Cleveland was unconscionable. Of course, as with all things scandalous, those causing scandal are a minority. There are many fine, responsible bishops.
I hope the reason why there is such a backlog of episcopal appointments here in the U.S. is due to better vetting of potential bishops.
Scott, I wouldn’t bet on it.