CNA Staff, Aug 12, 2020 / 02:07 pm (CNA).- The former Assistant Superintendent of Catholic Schools in Washington, D.C., has been charged with embezzling close to half a million dollars from the archdiocese over an eight-year period.
Kenneth Gaughan, 41, has been charged in two separate schemes to steal money from the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., and the federal Paycheck Protection Program put in place to help small businesses during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We will not tolerate exploitation of this national emergency for personal gain,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin in a press release.
“This Office will not allow fraudsters to steal taxpayer money intended to help small businesses that are currently struggling as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The criminal complaint, unsealed Aug. 11, charges Gaughan with bank fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and theft of government funds. He is accused of seeking and accepting $2.1 million in small business loans for companies that falsely claimed to register emotional support animals.
Gaughan reportedly used forged bank records and other paperwork to obtain the loans. Prosecutors say he used the funds to buy a yacht, $1.3 million D.C. rowhouse, and luxury car.
He is also being charged with separately embezzling $472,000 from the Archdiocese of Washington from 2010-2018. According to prosecutors, Gaughan, who served as assistant superintendent, persuaded the archdiocese to pay invoices to companies he owned under an alias for services that had not actually been provided, included anti-bullying programs and messaging software.
The Archdiocese of Washington told the Washington Post that it planned to “fully cooperate in the prosecution of the scheme to defraud.”
Gaughan has pled not guilty, the Washington Post reported.
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Washington D.C., May 28, 2019 / 05:19 pm (CNA).- While hazardous weather continues to affect the Midwest, the US bishops have mourned for those killed by the storms.
Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice, chairman of the US bishops’ domestic justice committee, issued a statement May 24 encouraging people to help the victims by prayer and donations.
“I am profoundly saddened by the loss of life and the damage caused by the tornadoes and storms throughout the Midwest and related regions these past few days,” he said.
“A call is made to all for prayers for the victims and their grieving families and communities. Further, now is the time to offer assistance to those facing this great loss,” he further added.
In the past week, tornadoes and heavy storms have hit several Midwest states, including Ohio, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Illinois, and Iowa. According to the Dewane, the storm has affected millions of residents and killed several people.
“As of this writing, millions of people in at least seven states have been affected by the powerful winds, rainfall and rising water levels caused by these conditions. Seven people have been killed in Missouri, Iowa and Oklahoma,” he said.
One of the heavily damaged areas was Missouri, where a tornado touched down in Golden City last Wednesday. It has killed three people, injured nearly two dozen, and cut power to thousands. Missouri’s capital, Jackson City, was badly affected. The tornado damaged several buildings, including a school.
“There was a lot of devastation throughout the state,” Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, according to NPR. “We were very fortunate last night that we didn’t have more injuries than what we had, and we didn’t have more fatalities across the state.”
The New York Times reported that over the past 11 days, eight tornadoes have occurred in Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana. In Ohio alone, at least 40 houses were damaged or destroyed, and one death has been reported.
Catholic Charities in Central and Northern Missouri has launched a 2019 tornado and flood relief fund to help support those affected by the weather. Dewane encouraged families to donate to the organization.
“Further, now is the time to offer assistance to those facing this great loss. We are grateful that Catholic Charities and other organizations are in place working to provide for emergency needs and to help rebuild,” he said.
A detail of Timothy P. Schmalz’s fourth station: Jesus meets his mother. / Courtesy of Timothy P. Schmalz
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 18, 2022 / 04:00 am (CNA).
Catholic artist Timothy P. Schmalz sought to find and bring to life the most important subject matter an artist could ever express.
“I wanted to create a sculpture project that would be the heart of Christianity,” the Canadian sculptor said.
He settled on Christ’s crucifixion and death.
His new creation, once finished, will be a life-size set of the 14 Stations of the Cross — scenes depicting Christ’s journey from being condemned to death to his burial — placed right next to Disney World. The faithful will be able to encounter the 12-foot tall, 11-feet wide sculptures at the Basilica of Our Lady Queen of the Universe, in Orlando, Florida.
“I hope to rival Universal Studios, Walt Disney, and every other feature in Orlando by creating what has never been done before, and that is one of the biggest, most complex Stations of the Cross,” Schmalz said.
Once completed, visitors will encounter the 12-foot tall, 11-feet wide sculptures at the Basilica of Our Lady Queen of the Universe, in Orlando, Florida. “It’s right in the center of a place that desperately needs a spiritual Catholic oasis,” sculptor Timothy P. Schmalz says. Courtesy of Timothy P. Schmalz
Schmalz is not new to sculpting. The experienced artist’s work can be found worldwide, from St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican to Washington, D.C. He is perhaps best known for his “Homeless Jesus” sculpture and the “Angels Unaware” statue.
His new Stations of the Cross, he hopes, will serve as a tool for evangelization and conversion for the roughly 50 million people that visit Disney each year.
“It’s right in the center of a place that desperately needs a spiritual Catholic oasis,” he said, adding that bringing the Stations of the Cross to Orlando is “bringing the Gospels [to] where the people are, in a sense.”
The stations — which combine mural painting and sculpture — will offer visitors “visual doorways into a Catholic-Christian experience,” he said.
So far, he has completed the first four stations: Jesus is condemned to death, Jesus carries his cross, Jesus falls for the first time, and Jesus meets his mother.
It will take another year, he says, before all 14 are done. On his YouTube channel, Schmalz walks viewers through the process of creating each station, from sketching them on paper to sculpting them in bronze.
Each scene, made of bronze, bursts with symbolism, movement, and emotion. The foreground shows Jesus’ passion. In the background, Schmalz plans to include every single parable found in the New Testament.
“When you see Jesus in the front, you’re going to see … a raw, hardcore scene from the passion,” he said. “But in the distance, you’re going to see the parables that he taught us. So it might be in the distance, you’ll see a camel trying to get through a little hole in the wall or the eye of the needle.”
While he works in his studio located in St. Jacobs, in Ontario, Canada, he listens to an audio recording of the New Testament, he said.
“Things are pulled out and things describe themselves as I create,” he explained, comparing his role to a “passenger” or “director.”
The stations are getting funded by various donors, he said, as he works on them. As they progress from one to 14, each station will become “more and more intense.”
“The passion now has become my passion,” he said.
He hopes that viewers will feel like they are a part of the stations.
“We know there’s a lot of kids going to Walt Disney in Orlando every year,” he said, giving one example. “I’m putting a lot of children within them so they can see themselves in the scene.”
The 53-year-old artist also sees himself in them.
“It’s fascinating because you really become a part of the subject matter as you’re working on it,” he said. “It evolves and it grows as you’re working on it, and it’s almost like it tells you what to do in a sense where I don’t necessarily know exactly how the piece will end up.”
He called the project mentally, spiritually, and physically taxing. He might dedicate one entire day to creating a little corner of one of the stations, he said, and another day just focusing on the face of Jesus.
But, he added, the work is worth it. These stations allow him, as an artist, to “get to the absolute essence of Christianity” in the hope that “it will be one of the greatest tools to convert and inspire Christianity.”
“I hope to rival Universal Studios, Walt Disney, and every other feature in Orlando by creating what has never been done before, and that is one of the biggest, most complex Stations of the Cross,” says Timothy P. Schmalz, shown here in his studio looking at the fourth station. Courtesy of Timothy P. Schmalz
“I want [people] to come back from Orlando and, sure, talk about the rides, talk about Mickey Mouse. But I want them to say that the most exciting and most interesting and most moving thing with their vacation was this Stations of the Cross project,” he said. “And if I can do that with this piece of artwork, I have succeeded.”
At a time when many people are attacking Christianity and Christian symbols, Schmalz’s response is to create new, stronger symbols. “Sculptures that are bold, sculptures that celebrate and glorify Christ, but also encourage people to walk through that doorway and see Christ in focus,” he said.
“As they try to make us invisible, we have to sharpen,” he concluded. “And me, as an artist, that is my job, to sharpen our identity with these symbols and art.”
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