Show me the money!

The Massachusetts Senate has passed a bill requiring religious organizations to make annual financial disclosures just like other non-profits. The big question is why they were exempt in the first place. This is clearly more fallout from the Catholic sex abuse scandal, which has cost Catholics in this country upwards of $1 billion, along with the shame of having such crimes go unnoticed and unpunished right under our noses.

The big question, though, is why local dioceses don't already issue annual financials, not because the law requires it but because the church's stewards (bishops on down) owe God's people a report of how the church's money (which comes from the people, after all) is being spent.

The real bad news here is that the people of God had to go to the legislature to get what they deserve from their bishops. If the money trail was clearly marked a long time ago, we might have discovered the sex abuse cover-up a long time ago.