Financial Investigation Prompted Removal While Sex Abuse Investigation Did Not

By Kathy Kane,

In the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, it seems financial allegations may be taken more seriously than child sex abuse allegations.

Case in point, when the Archdiocese “suspected” Anita Guzzardi of embezzling, they removed the Chief Financial Officer from her position. Father John Paul was allowed to remain as pastor of Our Lady of Calvary after two allegations of child sex abuse were reported.

Click here to read: “Pastor resigns following sex-abuse allegations,” by Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 11, 2013

16 thoughts on “Financial Investigation Prompted Removal While Sex Abuse Investigation Did Not

  1. When I remembered that the former CFO was fired and escorted from the building after findings from a preliminary investigation and Fr Paul was allowed to stay at the parish while the internal investigation was ongoing, I tried to figure out the reasoning. In the case of the former CFO the case was ‘current’ she was embezzling money at that time, in the case of Fr Paul it was what is called “historical allegations” abuse reported from the past. Then I realized the absurdity of even putting possibly stealing money vs possibly harming children into the same category and trying to reach a reasonable explanation. Money can be replaced, children cannot.

  2. Kathy………….we’ve been around this travesty long enough to know who wins in this battle of Money vs. Children. When it comes to weighing what is more important…………….risk to the archdiocesan money (assets, holdings, investments.) or risk to archdiocesan children ?

    The evidence, conduct, decision-making, hypocrisy and hubris of archdiocesan leadership clearly indicates that MONEY is their primary concern.

    1. Sorry Mike..I am a little distracted right now..I got an email from someone at the Archdiocese that was sent to me by mistake…seems that I might have to cut down on my email production “she is emailing everyone and their mother” is what the email . I responded back that if I had all employees mothers addresses I would be happy to include them in emails also..the more the merrier..right Mike 😉 Someone has to watch out for these kids.

      1. Thank you for taking the time to point this fact out, Kathy. It seems to be the trend around the world, if you follow Bishop Accountability website. Many times it is more about the money than the children. As a mother of three it totally upsets me. There is nothing more important in life, and their protection should be uppermost in the minds of everyone.

        1. Mare for an organization that says it is so prolife equaling prochild it really makes me wonder what their true values are after seeing how they treat our children in the church.. My dad would throw himself under a truck if it would keep his kids safe. My dad was a protector that’s what I am use to. The way these mostly men treat children as disposable is an atrocity.

          1. Good points, Beth. I think they are so far removed from what goes on in the type of family we grew up in!

  3. For me it’s confirmation of what survivors have been saying for decades. The only time the hierarchs listen and then act is when it affects money or media.

    I believe the victims.

  4. It’s relatively easy to have an objective outside CPA audit the books of a parish or of any other organization but much more difficult to decide whom to believe about anything that may or may not have happened forty-five years ago.

    1. Eva, When it comes to children, how does one calculate this type of risk? There were two separate allegations. When I’ve heard similar allegations on the news, the person is suspended from their position while an investigation takes place. Isn’t it better to err on the side of safety? And since they chose to leave him in his position, shouldn’t parents have been notified so they could make informed choices about their children?

      Also, you’d be surprised at how easy it is to prove things that happened 40, 30 and 20 years ago. A detective was just saying this to me yesterday. Look at the paper trail exposed in the Msgr. Lynn trial. The difficult part is prosecuting because of our statutes of limitations.

    2. Eva,
      The catholic church keeps good notes for decades that’s why they don’t want to hand over their records………its not that they didn’t know its that they don’t want us to know they knew……….Its not that they cant defend themselves its that their records spell it out in black and white…..

  5. Eva do you have any idea about how painful it is to have to talk about the pain one endured over 40 years ago? The horror story is like a video tape. It is so much easier to try to suppress it to not have to deal with it. Have you ever cut your hand and hard a glass or splinter shard imbedded in it. it’s easier to try to ignore it than to endure its removal.

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