Claims about ex-officials at Holy Cross startling. What can we learn from them? | Opinion

What could cause more buzz than a story alleging the embezzlement of about a million dollars from one of a community’s most respected and philanthropic institutions?

One involving claims the theft was orchestrated by a church administrator, in cahoots with her boss, its well-respected, but deceased, Catholic pastor?

The recent arrest of former Holy Cross Catholic Church administrator Deborah True, 69, was startling. True retired from the church, moving to Jacksonville, then Colorado, following the Rev. Richard Murphy’s death in 2020 at age 80.

She is accused of using almost $700,000 in the Orchid Island church’s proceeds to pay her debts. Vero Beach police said she tried to justify the spending by saying Murphy OK’d the transactions. Police said Murphy appeared to also have benefited from some of the $1.5 million deposited in a church account since 2015 they say had not been reported to the Catholic Diocese of Palm Beach.

News of the arrest attracted TV crews from West Palm Beach and spread nationally on the internet.

Official arrested: Former Holy Cross Catholic Church official arrested in embezzlement case

Read the warrant: Kyle Eder, Vero Beach police detective, outlines the theft case

Let's not rush to judgment

Certainly these developments, based on what has been released by Vero Beach police so far, are intriguing. What else will we learn? Time will tell. Regardless, if what police say is true, it’s another cautionary tale.

It wouldn’t be the first time such theft struck a nonprofit, charity or house of worship. It wouldn’t be the first time a respected religious leader was involved in controversy.

Let's not rush to judgment.

In this case, Father Murphy — seen by many as a beloved servant-leader, according to the 106 comments left on his online obituary — isn’t here to defend himself.

Clearly, he, with his parishioners’ support, did good things for the community. He was part of numerous charitable efforts, from supporting a Treasure Coast Food Bank program to feed children in need to helping the homeless, bequeathing his life insurance policy to The Source. In 2007, Holy Cross raised millions of dollars to help build a major expansion at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Mission in Fellsmere.

He built a solid following during his 23 years in Vero Beach. Before that, he served a church in Stuart, starting in the mid-1980s, where he also worked with True.

Disappointment is understandable. But credit church leaders who, instead of keeping things quiet, contacted authorities and asked for an investigation.

Such transparency is important. Hopefully, greater knowledge of what happened can help other organizations avoid the same plight.

Church transparency can help others

After all, about 80% of church fraud cases are not reported, according to Patricia Lotich of Smart Church Management, a website dedicated to helping church operations.

“Part of this is due to a desire to keep the incident private, the forgiving nature of a church and quite frankly church leaders who don’t know how to respond to internal theft,” she wrote in a 2015 article, “18 Shocking Facts About Church Embezzlement.

“Churches are targeted for fraud because of the very nature of the church and the counterintuitive nature of suspecting someone of stealing,” she said. “Churches need to stop being naive and put systems and processes in place to protect the financial resources that God has supplied.”

Back then, she wrote one-third of churches fall prey to theft of some kind, with the average fraud going on for 18 months. What’s more, the average perpetrator of a fraud worked at the church for eight years.

“One would think that the longer someone works somewhere the more they can be trusted,” she wrote. “This is clearly not the case in church fraud.”

Her piece links to various theft-prevention tips and resources. They are useful not only for houses of worship, but for other smaller nonprofits, especially those that rely on cash donations and have smaller staffs with more authority.

Organized religion not to blame

This case should by no means be used as a knock against religion. The reality is we’re all human. Theft can occur anywhere at any time without proper oversight.

So let’s be careful about how we discuss the case at Holy Cross. True stands accused of organized fraud and is free on $25,000 bond, but in our system she remains innocent until proven guilty.

The Bible admonishes its followers to avoid rumor and innuendo. I trust we’ll avoid it and let the facts, as they come out in the coming weeks, speak for themselves.

This column reflects the opinion of Laurence Reisman.  Contact him via email at larry.reisman@tcpalm.com, phone at 772-978-2223, Facebook.com/larryreisman or Twitter @LaurenceReisman

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Claims against ex-leaders at Holy Cross a cautionary tale