Wrist Tap

A Pallottine's plea bargain

When Pallottine Father Guido Carcich arrived in Baltimore in 1953, he spent his own money on mailings promoting Roman Catholic devotion to St. Jude, the patron of hospitals and hopeless cases. Carcich's letters did not ask for contributions in so many words, but money flowed in anyway. Building on his St. Jude mailing list, the priest later developed massive direct-mail pitches for the Pallottines, whose 2,200 priests and brothers minister in 23 countries. Seventeen years and $175 million in proceeds later, Carcich, 59, last week pleaded guilty to "fraudulent misappropriation" of funds in Baltimore Criminal Court.

For the past two years, the Pallottine case has rocked the world of charity fund raising. Only a relative pittance of Carcich's proceeds--in one period as little as 2.5%--ever got to the missionaries and starving waifs shown in the brochures. A statement last week, agreed upon by both sides, reports that, among other things, Carcich diverted at least $102,000 from his 20 secret bank accounts to friends, relatives and fellow Pallottines. Nonetheless, according to the lawyers' memo, the Superior General of the order in Rome says Carcich is "a good man and a good priest." Carcich contends that whatever his sins, he did it all for the church.

Baltimore's Archbishop William Borders, who has suspended Carcich from priestly activities since the case first broke 2 1/2 years ago, is now asking that Carcich and the Pallottines be granted "some of the peace which an admission of guilt and attempt to rectify wrongdoing should bring." Also in a forgiving mood Attorney General Francis Burch dropped 60 of the 61 counts against Carcich and got the court last week to sentence him to 18 months of probation, during which he will spend a year in unspecified work among Maryland prisoners without serving time himself.

"Deals like this one give plea bargaining a bad name," fumed the morning Sun, which originally broke the scandal. Much of the public seemed to agree. The kid-gloves treatment of Carcich may hurt Burch, who is running for Governor in the Sept. 12 primary. The longer range impact will come in Washington. The Pallottines were not the only agency that used 80% or more of their gifts to cover the exorbitant costs of direct mail. Congress is now considering a new law to force charities to disclose such unhappy facts to potential contributors.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.