Religion: Money Mystery

Just like other Americans, U.S. churchmen have been shaken by the twin terrors of inflation and stock market losses. But the losses are rarely as calamitous as those sustained by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Reno and the Massachusetts-based province of the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette.

So far, a thick murk of confusion, conjecture and reticence has obscured the full dimensions and exact nature of the Reno-La Salette financial disaster. According to the National Catholic Reporter, the progressive lay weekly that broke the story last week, the Reno diocese and the...