Friday, September 30, 2016

Archdiocesan Internal Review Report

An anonymous commenter asked to post the Archdiocesan Internal Review Report of the Cathedral-Bascilica and the Catholic Cemeteries, which can be found here and in the Archdiocese of Agana website.  The report was conducted on January 23, 2015 and listed the following: 

(1)  Msgr. Benavente as the administrator of the Cathedral-Basilica and The Catholic Cemeteries developed projects which resulted in the Archdiocese incurring $7 million dollars ($7,029,853.93), which were consolidated in 2009 from different loans held at the Bank of Hawaii and Bank of Guam to First Hawaiian Bank, and re-financed again in 2012.  These two entities have the largest indebtedness of all other entities in the Archdiocese, and in 2013, a review of the principal balances indicated that the overall reduction of their indebtedness was less than the average 20% reduction by other Archdiocesan entities.  Another project that was formerly administered by Msgr. Benavente is indebted for $2.2 million dollars as of 2013, and due to its financial condition has only been paying interest on its outstanding debt, up to August 2014.  These three entities constitute approximately 37% of the total indebtedness of the Archdiocese (the remaining indebtedness represents all parishes and catholic schools). 

(2)  Msgr. Benavente as the administrator of the Cathedral-Basilica and Catholic Cemeteries commingled funds and transferred funds between the two entities without respect of restrictions on funds - i.e. cemetery funds were used for payroll of Cathedral-Basilica employees; monies restricted to stipend payments for the clergy were used to pay for loans; also, a pervasive practice was evident in the reimbursements for personal credit card payments - these practices resulted in extremely difficult record keeping, failure to apply generally accepted principles of accounting, and most importantly making verification and audit by auditors impossible.

(3)  Between January 2009 and July 2014, Msgr. Benavente received payments of $326,913.61 by simultaneously drawing payroll and stipends from The Catholic Cemeteries, and stipend payments from the Cathedral-Basilica.  Upon the change of administration, credit cards in the name of the Archdiocese were discovered holding balances in excess of $60,000; the credit card in the name of The Catholic Cemeteries was specifically used by Msgr. Benavente for restaurants, air fare, the Shangri-La Hotel in Manila and other five star Hotels.  In the same period, The Catholic Cemeteries and the Cathedral-Basilica expended more than $123,000 towards credit card payments to First Hawaiian Bank and American Express.  Other payments for a credit card in the name of Msgr. Benavente, a gas card, and cellular/data phone privileges, which were paid for by The Catholic Cemeteries, accounted for an additional $23,000.  Notably, $13,000 of cemetery funds were paid for Msgr. Benavente's 20th Anniversary reception.  Total advances documented between January 2009 and July 2014 by both entities for Msgr. Benavente are nearly $475,000.  This does not include cemetery family crypts valued at $380,000.00, which were gifted by Msgr. Benavente to his close friend and family; in other words, no fee was charged for these cemetery plots.  

(4)  Under the prior administration, $400,000 in past due obligations for the Cathedral-Basilica and The Catholic Cemeteries accrued; the past due obligation is of July 25, 2014, and does not include the $7 million dollar obligation owed to the First Hawaiian Bank.  For the Cathedral-Basilica, $188,000 of the past due obligations are for insurance premiums, and the monthly income generated by the Cathedral-Basilica is insufficient to pay for both past due and current insurance premiums, utility and other expenses, and bank loans.  The current financial condition of the Cathedral-Basilica is in the red.  Notwithstanding its financial condition, Msgr. Benavente granted education scholarship for tuition, substantial donations for medical assistance, employee loans, and other donations from parish funds.  Another $27,000 of parish funds were used to pay for Msgr. Benavente's projects involving the Knights (papal honors).  

(5)  Deloitte & Touche on January 8, 2014, notified the Archdiocese that The Catholic Cemeteries was not auditable due to significant accounting deficiencies.  One of the issues identified was the long-term care (aka perpetual care) liability, which was not accurately reflected in the financial statements, nor was it property allocated in its records; specifically, prior sales were recorded as revenue rather than setting aside any portion for long term care.  Despite the passage of more than six months from the report, no progress was noted to address this major issue; nor was there any set funds set aside and designated as perpetual care funds to conform to the recommendation; the Deloitte & Touche report showed a liability of $800,000 in long term care which during 2013 grew to more than $1.3 million.  Since the change of administration, the Perpetual Care Fund has been established with an approximate balance of $30,000, in just a few short months.  

32 comments:

  1. No wonder why Msgr. Benevente does not want to go bak to the cathederal... he is washing his hands from the depts and maybe looking to start new at St. Anthony?
    Hhhhmmmmm? I wonder???? Too bad his name is attached to the depts.....
    The copy of the checks furnished is evidence....... ooohhh mmyyyy!!!!

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  2. As an MBA graduate I find the financial practices so dishonest. Important to have outside audit.

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  3. perpetual care fund at one time had $1,000,000. A balance of $30,000 0f money from Archbishop Flores raises serious financial questions.It is important to publish these accounts so the Archdiocese knows the truth. It is financial truth we want.

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  4. Benavente's cry of 'VINDICATION!' was premature. A criminal complaint was filed to GPD and the AG's office naming him as a culprit of embezzlement. 'Vindication', you say? Maybe not to Benavente's liking because something else is coming in the other way around.

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  5. Now is the time to heed the call of Benavente (and here I paraphrase) to 'roll up our sleeves, and work towards unity and reconciliation and to rebuild a wounded church'. YES! Let's do that.

    Our first task in rebuilding the diocese is to examine the Financial Review Report of the Cathedral Basilica and Catholic Cemeteries. This report is the source, the fountain, or as is said in Chamorro the of the situation we are in. Examine the report. Study it, and understand it. The report reveals the corruption of the administration of Benavente. Rohr, the CCOG and LFM have been hard at work these past two years to make sure this report is forgotten and thrown into oblivion.

    Lest we forget...

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    1. Rohr ordered his picketers horde to threaten Archbishop Hon and demand his removal from Guam. Just a week ago, they yelled "Hon go ho!" with Bob Klitzkie being the loudest. No wonder Hon curls up in fear in his dark chancery room, trying to secure his frontier. He threw a bone to chew on to the mad dogs of the jungle by clearing up Fr. James.

      Now, while Archbishop Hon is trying to recuperate, still shaking of fear in a dark room, Rohr's gang is preparing for the next round of yelling and shouting match at the Cathedral this Sunday morning. We'll see Bob Klitzkie to chase his tail around in a full circle from barking at Hon last week to licking his hands now. Wow, it's going to be fun to watch. These people have absolutely no sense of shame!

      Meantime Fr. Mike and Fr. Jeff keep turning the authority of the Apostolic Administrator into a joke. They openly defy order from him. How long can this go on? My advise to Archbishop Hon: please reign on the wayward and discipline the black sheep. You have to show your power, otherwise you won't have any chance to keep the integrity of the church intact. Hey, it is a jungle world out here dictated by the kill-or-die rules of the jungle!

      If Archbishop Hon continues catering to the rabid dogs of Rohr and Klitzkie, then he may have all the earthly power he yearns for, but may lose his everlasting soul to the eternal fires of the jungle. Let's pray for him with sincerity of heart.

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    2. @12:07--
      '....yelling and shouting match at the Cathedral this Sunday morning.'
      Is this how you describe praying the Rosary and singing Chamorro hymns?
      Yes, go and watch. And learn.

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    3. It is a shame. You misuse the Rosary for promoting animosity and discord. Our Lord said go to your home and pray in silence that nobody hears you but your Heavenly Father.

      You demand things while waving your Rosary that you have no business to do. Mother Mary would be ashamed of you! Who do you think you are?

      It is you who should go home and not Hon, because what you do at the Cathedral every blessed Sunday is sacrilege! Pure and simple, right from hell.

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    4. Yeah, demanding the Apostolic Administrator to "go home" while yelling the Rosary at him is a sacrilege. Out Mother Mary would never approve that!

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    5. Oct 1 9:27PM and Oct 2 10:17AM--
      It's easy for anyone to see that there is no waving of Rosaries, and no yelling going on at the Cathedral on Sunday--just people praying and singing. So for you to describe it like that will make people wonder about you, not them. Many people pray the Rosary in times of strife, and for those people, this is one such time.

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  6. Savio Hon can cry all he wants over the Cemetery Board's actions. But the Board was acting responsibly while HON was acting irresponsibly in exonerating a proven corrupt priest!

    The Cemetery Board cannot sit by idly while Hon clears the financial misdeeds of a corrupt priest. It is this priest who abused his power in stealing the monies of the church.

    Hon is destroying the church in Guam. Enough is enough!

    Can we ask the 'Silent NO More' group to use their sign and to advertise our fight against the corruption of Hon and Benavente

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    Replies
    1. Make your own sign. Don't be lazy.

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    2. So sorry ANON 12:33 Savio doesn't cry . It is Jeffrey SN.

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  7. This really angers me. The Church forgives and hides child abuser priests. The Church forgives and hides/protects embezzling priests. They lie and manipulate. This is not just the Catholic Church, they are all the same in this respect.

    How I wish I could be the same and just forgive, but Holy Crap Batman,,,history of this crap in the church just keeps repeating.

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  8. OK, first, Savio Hon tried to fool the people of Guam by covering up the criminal activity of Benavente. He had been trying for several months to shove down our throats that Benavente is not guilty of crimes. Surprise!

    Second, Fr. Jeff released a biased seminary report while in the same breath spoke badly of the head of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Cardinal Filoni. This was a bad display of deception and insubordination! Jeff needs to disassociate himself from Hon or else he'll be flushed away with Savio.

    Third, Savio Hon attempted to remove Apuron as the archbishop due to allegations of sexual abuse without even ascertaining the truth of these accusations. He even made a public threat to have Apuron removed as archbishop. Hon incited people to hate the true leader of the Archdiocese. This is unjust, scandalous and an attack on the good name and good reputation of Apuron.

    So, therefore, we can say that the Administration of Savio Hon has been riddled with the unjust abuse of reputation, deceit, scandal, corruption, false accusations, inciting hatred of legitimate church authority and the crime of the abuse of church power.

    I think it's time for Pope Francis to send Savio Hon to some far away mission territory in the interior hinterlands of mainland China or Inner Mongolia where he can learn some humility. He's done enough damage to the church in Guam.

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    1. Archbishop Hon is maneuvering between Scylla and Charybdis. He understood that he has no true authority on Guam! The authentic church power of Rome was abdicated to the jungle anarchists. It is the reality of a far-away island in the Pacific Ocean. We are forgotten behind the back of God, nobody cares about restoring our faith and a priestly order of the One and True Catholic Church.

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    2. Hon is not oscillating... He is not maneuvering... He has sided completely and utterly with Tim Rohr and CCOG. He is following their agenda to the dot. They dictate what he says and what he does. Now they gave him orders to humiliate Father Luis Camacho. You will see... in the next few days/week, Hon will pronounce himself against Father Luis... He is becoming embarrassingly ridiculous...

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    3. It is because the true power on Guam belongs to the anarchists. Even the Governor, a Catholic man, sided with Rohr and his gang. He quoted Jesus of Nazareth (yes, that is how he wrote it!!) to justify the power he is giving to anarchy.

      All Guam is shaking in fear because of the diabolical power of this arrogant group of "alleged" Catholics. No wonder Hon does not dare to lift a finger without their approval.

      Delete

  9. All i want to know is the Financial truth. Exactly how much is the debt of the Cathedral? what is the balance of the perpetual care Fund? Were funds removed from perpetual care fund? If so who removed those funds? For what purpose were those funds used.
    Our people have a right to financial truth.

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    Replies
    1. The finances of the church on Guam is a mess. If Hon does not move to clear up things, it will stick to him forever as his mess.

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  10. Yes. Let's look into the church's finances. I'd like to see how what went where, who really is footing the bill for RMS, and what happens to monies collected while convening outside of the church.

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    Replies
    1. Dear Anonymous at 6:31 am,

      About 20% of the Annual Archdiocesan Appeal goes to RMS.

      Delete
  11. So where were the so called archdiocese financial committee at this time?

    Maybe they can take a break from protesting to respond.

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  12. I noticed in press media that there was no mention of forgiveness of the issues faced by Msngr Beneventy...
    Of course he prays for Archbishop Anthony like all other priest during Eucharist, but thats because he has to....
    what a joke to the public using media to cause scandal in the church...
    Getting interesting on finances during Msngr Benevente's administration. The truth has a way of coming to light...

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    Replies
    1. The media is biased against the Neocatechumenal Way! It is because they know nothing about us. They make up stupid things, indoctrinated by the jungle. Rohr said we separate the mass into two parts, a Celebration of the Eucharist part and a Celebration of the Word part. Lol! He said this, because he misunderstood the role of the weekday gathering of our communities. This is how hearsay, indoctrination and a lack of care for the truth creates false myths to feed the media.

      Rohr keeps his leash on the media tight. This is why you see all the biased media reports. For example, the recurring journalist who keeps lying about the NCW as much as she can, Haidee Eugenio, is Rohr's personal trainee and lieutenant.

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    2. Nobody in the media is biased against the Way. They report both sides. If the media was biased we would not know about the 4500 (or was it 4700? or was it 5000?) signatures on the petition. We wouldn't know about Dr. Ric's group. We would not have known what Fr. Pius had to say about RMS.

      FYI, NCW has one HUGE media fan with a large following: K57 Travis Coffman. He makes fun of Bob Klitzkie and Tim Rohr and all things traditionally Catholic on The Big Show. He talks up the NCW and also makes fun of ordinary people who call in to make critical comments about the NCW. Diana, Dr. Zoltan and Dr. Ric: call Travis at 477-5757 weekdays 2-6 PM and let your voices be heard.

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    3. Lol! You know nothing about the Guam media, my friend! They are part of the anarcho-liberal empire Rohr and his gang is building hand-in-hand with the anti-Catholic and extreme libertarian SNAP group from the mainland. This empire is dictating to the senators and the governor writing their bills, coercing the Legislature to vote on it and the governor to sign their bills into law.

      This is part of a liberal political agenda that well-known liberal feminist journalists like Haidee Eugenio at PDN and Krystal Paco at KUAM news push forward in their respective media outlets. This agenda includes free abortion, divorce for everyone and marriage for homosexuals in the Catholic church, ordination of women and euthanasia.

      We are here in the NCW of the Catholic church to block their agenda and maintain the teaching of Vatican on Guam. That is what they are furious against us! They follow command from Rohr's group who pay them from the money thy are gonna extort from the church.

      Tommy Tanaka was promised 1000% return for every cent he donates to CCOG. CCOG contracted the "victims" to pay 1/3 of the loot to the lawyers, 1/3 to CCOG and only 1/3 is theirs to keep. Now, you see who and how sponsor CCOG and the anti-Catholic activity that is going on at Guam right now.

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    4. The PDN is lying and distorting the facts in each and every piece they come up in their paper. Typical example is that they keep repeating that Archbishop Apuron "disobeyed the Pope". They refer to Archbishop Hon's statement that the Holy See requested Apuron to surrender the Yona property to the Catholic church.

      Do you see the lie and distortion? We have explained several rimes that the "Holy See" in this statement does not mean the Pope! It means a Vatican congregation, but not Pope Francis himself. The congregation made a request that was returned because of a lack of assurance that the Yona property would remain in its function. Archbishop Apuron did not disobey the Pope here as the PDN keeps repeating.

      So why do they keep repeating the lie?

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    5. Anonymous at 9:18AM--
      NCW is NOT here to block anyone's Agenda. If you truly Walk you would know not make such a claim. And your talk of "empires" and "dictating to senators and the governor", as well as the lie about 1000% return of money to Tommy Tanaka, as well as the whole 1/3 division of moneys are all sensational stories that you have concocted in your head.
      You are taking "conspiracy theorist" to a whole new level, Troll.

      Delete
  13. I attended 10am Mass at San Vicente last Sunday where Adrian presided along with Deac Larry. I noticed a peculiar thing in that during the prayers of the faithful they named Pope Francis and Anthony Apuron, but did not include Archbishop Hon in the prayers. I immediately thought "they don't recognize his authority here" whereas when you attend mass at some other parishes they do include Arch. Hon's name.

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    1. The General Instruction to the Roman Missal no. 149 states: "It is permitted to mention Coadjutor and Auxiliary Bishops in the Eucharistic Prayer, but not other Bishops..." So Adrian did the right thing and at those other parishes the GIRM is not being followed on this point.
      The ordinary of the Archdiocese of Hagåtña is Anthony Sablan Apuron. Hon is an administrator with administrative power to fulfil a specific mission but he is not the ordinary of the archdiocese. This is not to say anything good or bad about anyone, it's just a plain fact.

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  14. Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
    Lectionary: 141, Reading 1

    Hab 1:2-3; 2:2-4

    How long, O LORD? I cry for help
    but you do not listen!
    I cry out to you, “Violence!”
    but you do not intervene.
    Why do you let me see ruin;
    why must I look at misery?
    Destruction and violence are before me;
    there is strife, and clamorous discord.

    Then the LORD answered me and said:
    Write down the vision clearly upon the tablets,
    so that one can read it readily.
    For the vision still has its time,
    presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint;
    if it delays, wait for it,
    it will surely come, it will not be late.
    The rash one has no integrity;
    but the just one, because of his faith, shall live.

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