The $50 billion Ponzi scheme engineered by financier Bernard Madoff is now affecting Catholic schoolchildren in the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to the Associated Press. The Diocese of St. Thomas there lost $2 million in the scheme, which has hampered the diocese's ability to offer financial aid to low-income students.
St. Thomas is not the first to lose money in the market; in fact many Catholic institutions are invested to the gills in all kinds of markets. The bishop of the Diocese of Santa Rosa, California even lost his job over shady investments some years ago. I think it begs the question: Should the church be investing the assets of God's people just like any other non-profit?
