Man, I thought I was selling out by going into BigLaw, really Gutt-ed I could have sold out in Rome all along! Glad to read that the church's finances are doing so well we can pay Vatican employees twice for the one job though!
As Fr Merosne would say, this is quite scandalous...
The Rene Brulhart dual-job situation makes me wonder what the European customs and accounting culture are around providing auditing and consulting services. In the United States, after Sarbanes-Oxley 2002, it is illegal for external auditors to provide consulting services to the same client, although before that it was very common, and it did make conflicts of interest and cause problems (see Enron). That's why it was outlawed in the US. But Europe has a different set of rules and accounting culture from the US. I've seen articles where as late as 2019 there was still controversy in the UK over whether accounting firms should be providing auditing and consulting services to the same companies. So I'm wondering if perhaps there's less resistance or a culture that is more "welcoming" to providing both services. Perhaps Mr. Brulhart was of the opinion that being both internal auditor and consultant was no big deal. Not saying he didn't use that dual role to abuse his office. But perhaps that is why he believes the charges will be dropped, because he doesn't really see a problem with doing both roles. Whereas from an American perspective I would see a big red flag there.
Great overview. One correction: Colombia the country is misspelled, a common error. Here’s how I’ve told people to remember it: There’s no “I” in team, and there’s no “U” in Colombia! ;)
As someone who has had Fr. Merosne at a parish mission, I can vouch for his missionary zeal and ability to preach the gospel. We raised a bunch of money for Haitian seminarians, many of which died when the ceiling collapsed on them in their sleep during a storm. I also drove him to Walmart so he could buy socks, underwear, and belts for his brother priests.
Man, I thought I was selling out by going into BigLaw, really Gutt-ed I could have sold out in Rome all along! Glad to read that the church's finances are doing so well we can pay Vatican employees twice for the one job though!
As Fr Merosne would say, this is quite scandalous...
The Rene Brulhart dual-job situation makes me wonder what the European customs and accounting culture are around providing auditing and consulting services. In the United States, after Sarbanes-Oxley 2002, it is illegal for external auditors to provide consulting services to the same client, although before that it was very common, and it did make conflicts of interest and cause problems (see Enron). That's why it was outlawed in the US. But Europe has a different set of rules and accounting culture from the US. I've seen articles where as late as 2019 there was still controversy in the UK over whether accounting firms should be providing auditing and consulting services to the same companies. So I'm wondering if perhaps there's less resistance or a culture that is more "welcoming" to providing both services. Perhaps Mr. Brulhart was of the opinion that being both internal auditor and consultant was no big deal. Not saying he didn't use that dual role to abuse his office. But perhaps that is why he believes the charges will be dropped, because he doesn't really see a problem with doing both roles. Whereas from an American perspective I would see a big red flag there.
Any link to donate directly to Fr. M??
Great overview. One correction: Colombia the country is misspelled, a common error. Here’s how I’ve told people to remember it: There’s no “I” in team, and there’s no “U” in Colombia! ;)
As someone who has had Fr. Merosne at a parish mission, I can vouch for his missionary zeal and ability to preach the gospel. We raised a bunch of money for Haitian seminarians, many of which died when the ceiling collapsed on them in their sleep during a storm. I also drove him to Walmart so he could buy socks, underwear, and belts for his brother priests.