Expertise

Today I had the fortune of attending a finance committee meeting of a parish.  It was a mixture of priests and lay people.  I was briefed that it could get ugly, with the lay people being highly suspicious of the priests and their ways of accounting. I was prepared for that. 

Nonetheless what unfolded was a totally different scene!  The lay people were more strict with themselves and each other than with the priests!!  Their ability to see through the numbers and ask very valid and relevant clarifications was something I really was happy to see.  

They never asked one single question about the expenses FOR the Church or challenged any expenditure made by the administrator.  Most of their queries were to ensure that the collection, from various sources, over the month, was rightly accounted for or not.  

And all of this discussion with no malice, but a very cordial but serious examination of the accounts.