Catholic Church faulted on cemeteries

Secretary of State William F. Galvin has accused the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston of violating state law by failing to maintain a separate fund for upkeep of its cemeteries and diverting money from cemetery care to other church purposes.

Galvin's securities division delivered a 33-page complaint yesterday to the Catholic Cemetery Association Inc., an entity the archdiocese uses to operate its cemeteries, accusing it of failing to ensure the perpetual care of its 22 Catholic graveyards. Galvin accuses the church of betraying its parishioners, who are told when they buy a plot that 10 percent of the price will be placed in the special fund for maintenance.

State law requires that anyone who operates a cemetery must maintain a restricted trust fund solely for the perpetual care of the graveyard, according to the complaint.

''People are being deceived into believing that there is a perpetual care fund, when there isn't," Galvin said yesterday. ''It's a financial shell game being played on the deceased and their families."

Chancellor David W. Smith, the archdiocese's chief financial officer, said he has not been able to review the complaint yet, but he strongly denied the church is breaking the law. He said the archdiocese is exempt from the statute regulating perpetual cemetery care funds because its cemeteries predate the existence of the law, which was passed more than a half-century ago. But he also said the archdiocese follows the intent of the law, keeping the money for cemetery care in a separate account, while investing it as part of the archdiocese's general fund.

''They're aggregated for investment purposes, so we can get broader diversity in our investments," Smith said.

Galvin disputes that the church is exempt. ''The church is not above the law," he said.

Galvin, in an interview with the Globe, said several of the area's Catholic cemeteries show signs of serious neglect and disrepair. Among other examples, Galvin said, there were broken and toppled headstones at Catholic Mount Auburn Cemetery in Watertown and overgrown grass at Immaculate Conception Cemetery in Marlborough.

''The archdiocese has failed to keep its commitment, not only to the families, but to the deceased," Galvin said.

A Globe photographer who visited the Catholic Mount Auburn Cemetery found several toppled headstones, while another Globe photographer who went to Immaculate Conception Cemetery found the grass had been mowed in some areas but was overgrown in others.

Smith also sharply disputed Galvin's assertion that the Catholic Church is neglecting cemetery upkeep, saying the charge is ''bogus" and without foundation. He said the cemetery association has not received a complaint in several years regarding the condition of its graveyards, while a decade ago complaints were frequent.

''I have no concept of what anyone is talking about," Smith said. ''We are absolutely proud of our cemeteries. They are much, much nicer than they have ever been."

The archdiocese has about $17 million for cemetery care.

Galvin, who through an act of the Legislature last year was given oversight of the perpetual care funds that churches and other groups collect to care for graveyards, said a yearlong review of the cemetery management practices across Massachusetts has turned up serious questions about the management of the funds and the care of the burial grounds. He is especially concerned about the cemeteries overseen by the Boston Archdiocese, he said, because of the large number of cemeteries it manages. About a half-million people are buried in the archdiocese's cemeteries.

Galvin also expressed concern because, he said, the archdiocese was warned about the problem by an Arizona consulting firm it hired to study the issue five years ago.

Since that report was delivered to the archdiocese, Galvin said, the church loaned $7.5 million from the cemetery care fund in 2003 to St. John's Seminary. The loan, along with a $750,000 fee, was repaid July 1, 2004, to the church's general fund. Galvin's complaint questions the legality of the loan.

Smith defended the transaction, saying the cemetery fund made a $750,000 profit as a result of it.

Galvin's complaint also questions the church's $2.8 million sale of nearly 3.2 acres of unused sections of the oceanfront Star of the Sea Cemetery in Marblehead. All but $200,000 of the proceeds were placed in the archdiocese's general funds, the complaint said.

Galvin's complaint was filed as the archdiocese faces serious budget deficits and criticism over its handling of the clergy pension funds. In November, Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley reported the church faces a $10 million annual deficit and an $80 million unfunded pension liability.

The Globe reported two months ago that internal church documents showed that it had not set aside enough money to pay for the retirement of priests. Church officials said the church has placed contributions into another trust fund and is drawing on that to pay the retired priests.

To deal with cash shortages, the Catholic Church has aggressively moved to cut costs, including ordering the closing of parishes and schools. The closings have created outrage and protests from parishioners.

Galvin's complaint, which will go before an independent hearing officer appointed by his securities division, asks for an order requiring that the Catholic Church set up a separate account for cemetery care and that the archdiocese be required to provide a public accounting of the money.