Giant Slush Fund

TRANSCRIPT
 

Just before we begin, we'd like to say "thank you" to everyone who has contributed to our End of the Year Campaign as well as invite those of you who have not yet done so to please click on the provided link.

As you know, Church Militant reports on affairs in the Church that damage souls and cripple the spread of the gospel message, and we do it like few others. It costs a lot to run this operation, so your donations are necessary and much appreciated.

And in keeping with that type of reporting, Church Militant has been made aware of what one person with knowledge described as a "giant slush fund" for the U.S. bishops. It appears to pass as an insurance company called Catholic Mutual, headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, in a $9-million building that doesn't seem to have many workers (at least judging from the parking lot during regular working hours).

It is an insurance company. In fact, it is a massive insurance company. But on its website — and here's the really weird twist — Catholic Mutual says plainly, "As part of the Catholic Church, Catholic Mutual is the leading provider of property, liability and employee-benefit coverage ... currently serving 134 dioceses and archdioceses and 200 Catholic religious orders."

There are some strange things here. For example, the line that Catholic Mutual is "part of the Catholic Church" is a little vague. It's actually yes and no. It's true that bishops of the Church run the insurance agency. Church Militant has learned it's actually listed as its own church, but there doesn't appear to be any specific, direct tie to the Church.

Furthermore, how can an insurance company really be "Catholic" — just because bishops set it up? It is a corporation and only associated with the Church because of the bishops. And because it is a business, it should be able to have its finances examined. But because the bishops set it up, it is free from all scrutiny.

What is known is that enormous — "outrageous" was the word used by some clergy Church Militant spoke to — monthly premiums are paid by individual parishes, and they are not allowed to shop on the open market. The bishops force their parishes to pay into this insurance pool.

And moreover, in recent years, as the premiums have increased, the deductibles have also actually increased, as reported to Church Militant by various pastors. That's not how insurance (of any kind) works. The higher you pay for your monthly premium, the lower your deductible is supposed to be. You don't have both go up.

But Catholic Mutual is completely free from any oversight or scrutiny because of the hierarchy's machinations. Thousands of parishes are forced to pay thousands and thousands of dollars every month into this insurance company. Years go by, quite often, before any parish ever makes a claim, especially with higher-than-should-be deductibles.

In addition, multiple religious orders are paying monthly premiums. Catholic Mutual has published that 134 dioceses and archdioceses are members. That figure represents thousands of parishes of the nation's roughly 16 thousand. Factor in all the religious orders also paying monthly premiums, and it becomes pretty clear that a massive amount of money is pouring into the bishops' insurance coffers every month — likely in excess of $50 million, every month. 

That's a huge amount of money just accumulating in that building. More than half a billion each year, and Catholic Mutual has been around for decades. Which, if any, of these funds are ever paid out? Who keeps track of them? Where's the oversight? In what and how are they invested?

This is absolutely insane. A body of men — the bishops — who lied to the faithful for decades about gay clergy raping teenage boys, and now deliberately bankrupting themselves to avoid payouts, is sitting on billions and billions of dollars, completely free from scrutiny because they claim to be religious. This is as immoral as hell.

Not a Catholic in America should give a penny to anything related to the corrupt, establishment Church. These men are beyond corrupt. They have access to, likely, billions of dollars and never breathe a word about it to anyone. We have no idea what this is being used for. We do know we've never seen a homeless bishop and certainly not a starving one.

Virtually no Catholic in America knows about this, and yet there it is. Why should bishops not have to explain this? They are constantly fleecing the flock, and yet over there, on the side, they have a giant slush fund that you can bet your bottom dollar is being used, at least in part, for immoral activity. These men are immoral and have access to virtually unlimited amounts of cash. That is a deadly combination. They need to open the books, immediately.

Using this group, priests are forced to pay for their car insurance, parish premiums, health insurance, all of it. The bishops will not allow parishes to shop around for lower rates, so what you're dealing with here is forced monopoly. And remember, the money pastors have to pay to the bishops' slush fund is your money.

And moreover, what's to stop a bishop or diocese from laundering hundreds of millions through this outfit? The answer is, absolutely nothing — especially if they are all in on it. "Slush fund" doesn't come close to describing what's going on here. In fact, you've got to wonder why the IRS hasn't descended on Catholic Mutual and said to open the books. This is a multi-billion-dollar insurance company posing as a church, nothing more.

For years now, Church Militant has been saying that the hierarchy is an international gay crime syndicate. The "gay" part has pretty much been established. The "criminal" part is likewise well established. Well, here is the "syndicate" part. You need to start demanding answers, and that means priests as well as the laity. Stop giving these liars and thieves anything. Let them dip into their multi-billion-dollar slush fund.