Dear Albert, In one of your earlier posts, you mentioned that there is no account kept nor given of donations made to churches.
Please pardon me for not putting the exact quote here simply because I have no time to go through Goanet archives. Let me clear the air regarding this. 1. Every Church/ Chapel is governed by a Confraria. The Confraria maintains the accounts and manages the financial affairs of the concerned church/ chapel. Confraria Executive Committees are elected by the Confrades (Members) - Not many people like to volunteer for these posts nor like to attend the election meetings. A confrade can be a member of the executive committee for not more than two successive terms 2. The Confraria accounts are strictly audited by the Seccao das Confrarias which exercises overall control over the accounts. 3. Every Church/ Chapel is required to prepare an annual budget- 'Vorsamento' No expenditure can be incurred which is not in the vorsamento. Confrades (Members) are entitled to object to the items in the budget. 4. Every Chapel must have a bank account in the name of the respective Confraria. Every bank is notified about the signatories to the bank accounts after the triennial elections 5. Every cheque issued must be countersigned by the Secretary of the Seccao das Confrarias. 6. All accounts must be displayed to the parishioners for three designated Sundays in the year. The Confrades (members) are entitled to raise objections. 7. All accounts are audited by a CA. So allegations of no accountability are strictly not true. This does not apply to donations made directly to Priests. For that the priest and his conscience are accountable. As always, Tony -- Tony de Sa. tonydesa at gmail dot com ^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ _/ tambdimati: the Goa review is a community blog of original _/ art, writing, music, news and commentary from and about the _/ smallest state in the subcontinent. check out the newest _/ member of the Goanet family daily at _/ http://www.tambdimati.com. _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
