“It happens every decade; the proportion of these cases increases during times of market euphoria.” Conger says that the “romance of leadership” (in the business world) tends to deify these corporate executives. “This can be a liability if the leaders begin to believe they are geniuses,” citing the Enron case as a perfect example. “They begin to believe they and their organizations are one-of-a-kind, that they’re changing the face of industry. They desire entitlements beyond any other C.E.O’s.”
A perfect example, Race writes in his article, was Harvey L. Pitt—then chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Under fire almost from the time of his nomination by President George W. Bush, Pitt served a tumultuous 15-month term before stepping down amid a firestorm of criticism. The tempest didn’t prevent Pitt from proposing a promotion and pay raise for himself. Said Pitt, “It is an enormous advantage to the public to have somebody who knows about the securities law as I do, and it would be unthinkable to deprive people of my expertise.”
A Sacred Trust Violated: Cancer Steps up to the Altar
I suppose, of all the corporate scams that have been perpetrated recently, the ones that disturb me the most are the Skehan/Guinan cases from the Diocese of Palm Beach, Florida. Just imagine the Cognitive Dissonance. Thought #1: I’m a priest, a man in the public trust. Thought #2: I’m stealing money from my parishioners to support my sophisticated lifestyle.
I can almost see Skehan now. He’s sitting in the celebrant’s chair, at the ten o’clock mass, and ushers are taking up the second collection after communion. He surveys the church and watches as his parishioners drop money into the baskets. What is he thinking? How that money can best serve the poor? How that money will help with the parish maintenance? Is he thinking about his rare coin collection and how to enhance it? Perhaps he’s thinking about that forty-two inch plasma in his pricy condominium? How about all of the above?
In many ways a parish is a corporation, but in many ways it’s not. The head of the parish is a priest, a pastor, a man of the cloth. Not an accountant; not a CEO. Like most corporations, money pours into the operation and certain services are provided. And the individuals in positions of power (we pray they’re at least half-way honest) control that money and where it goes. And like a corporation, the pastor must accurately account, to his bishop and parishioners, for the money coming in and going out. As a Catholic, I’m highly offended by what these two crooks did. After all, this is just what the Catholic Church in America needs after the recent sex scandals involving a small number of abusive priests. I’m also offended by the reasons given by Skehan as to why he illegally and immorally diverted parish funds. First, he saw himself as the CEO of a multi-million dollar corporation. Next, he felt that, as the CEO, he was inadequately compensated for his work. Finally, he viewed the diocese as frugal and parsimonious—refusing to fund his further studies and this is why he needed to dip into parish funds.
I suppose the bishop in Palm Beach should have given Skehan stock options, a $2.5 million bonus and the company car. Did these delusional beliefs give this fraud-in-a-Roman collar permission to grab money hand-over-fist? Apparently. This is Cognitive Dissonance in all its glory. I’ve been to many ordinations but I’ve never witnessed an ordaining bishop exhort the ordinundi to fleece their flock and squirrel away funds earmarked for the poor and needy—all the while making up a litany of lame excuses as to why. I spent some time in the seminary in the 1980’s. Trust me on this one: From the moment a man begins to seriously discern a possible vocation to the priesthood, he senses himself becoming more and more detached from the material world. Then once he gets to the seminary itself, he understands, from the get-go, (as in day one of student orientation) the ramifications of what will be required with this vocation. This man understands that, as a priest, he will forego many of the riches and material enticements of his fellow man—the BMW, the condo in Aspen, the 50-foot yacht, the weekly jaunts to the most expensive restaurants in town and the hefty bank accounts. Instead, this man should begin to focus on his growing spirituality and the spiritual well-being of others around him. And this awareness should intensify as the man draws closer to the day of his ordination. Who, during their priestly formation, taught these goofs to play grab-ass with as many twenty and fifty dollar bills as possible? I must have missed that lecture while I was in seminary. Do you mean to tell me that Skehan arrived at St. Vincent Ferrer parish only to find out (to his horror and astonishment) that he was now required to lead a simple and humble life?
By the way, kudos to the countless number of priests who practice integrity day in and day out. I have three good friends who are pastors and they get on me, from time to time, about my frustrations with our Church. I see their point. They don’t want to hear me lambaste their vocation any more than I want to hear them say that all school administrators (of which I am one) are corrupt. The Church is massive, and the crooks only make up a miniscule portion of the Catholic presbyterate. We should focus more on all the good that goes on in The Church. We can’t nullify the importance of the priesthood because of a few bad seeds. If that were the case, we might as well do the same with any other profession or vocation.
For, as the Ancient Greeks used to say, Where there is a sea, there are pirates.
Yes, indeed. And cancers as well.
6. The Cancer of Justifications and Academic Integrity
About twenty years ago, I ran into a former student of mine who’d come back to visit the campus while on spring break from the University of Florida. When I inquired about her grades, the young lady groaned that she was struggling to maintain a 2.6 GPA. This is a story we educators have heard many times before, especially since honors and advanced-placement courses tend to inflate high school grade-point averages. While 4.8 and 5.0 GPA’s are impressive, they’re also unrealistic. Personally, I find them silly.
I kidded with her, “Do you think you might need to study a little more? Cut down on the parties?”
“Nah, it’s not that. I just wasn’t prepared for the rigors of college. What can I say?”
I smiled politely, and then I remembered something. This young lady had quite the reputation for being less-than-honest back in the day; there were a few times I suspected her of cheating in my own class, but could never catch her in the act. She wasn’t an evil kid just someone who, like so many of her peers across this country, had mastered the system by sliding by on cute and clever instead of by honesty and hard work. Then she reached the big leagues and found her academic life breaking apart like a flimsy sand castle in the pounding surf.
Cancer: Pay the Price Now or Suffer the Consequences Later
We could argue that academic misconduct is a bit like juicing up on steroids. The performance may be flashy, even eye-catching at times, but it’s ultimately artificial. After a while, the juiceheads start to come apart at the seams. And so it goes with academics. Anyone can juice up a GPA with cheating and then brag about their impressive average, but they’ll eventually hit a wall. In the world of sports, particularly with the sport of football, these examples abound. NFL star Lyle Alzado had a celebrated career at defensive end but paid the ultimate price after cancer tore its way through his brain, reducing the once menacing hulk to a humble pile of skin and bones. Only at the end did Alzado lament his stupidity for taking the easy, undisciplined road. Just prior to his death, he pleaded with the youth of America to build their bodies the natural way, the right way.
The Slippery Slope Engenders the Cancer of Justifications
My first experience at snow skiing came at the Heavenly Resort out in Tahoe. I learned pretty quickly that if I didn’t wedge my skis, I would pick up momentum at an alarming rate and find myself racing across California’s powder at a dangerous speed. According to the skiing horror stories I’ve heard, this is how people end up colliding with evergreens, and plowing through lines of people waiting to ride