500 donations to N.J. Catholic diocese’s appeal reported missing from drop box

Police are investigating after hundreds of donations to a New Jersey Catholic diocese’s annual appeal were reported missing after being left in FedEx drop box in Clifton last month.
On Oct. 30 and 31, three packages of envelopes containing responses for the Diocese of Paterson’s appeal were placed in a drop box, but never arrived at their destination, church officials said in a letter to the community.
The packages contained responses from roughly 1,700 parishioners, and officials believe 500 of the missing responses contained cash, checks and credit card information.
“Unfortunately, the packages never arrived at their destination, and the tracking number for each package used to monitor the location was never entered, making it impossible to know their current whereabouts,” Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney of the Diocese of Paterson and Timothy J. Potter, the diocese’s chief development officer said in the letter.
The other 1,200 responses did not contain physical checks, cash or any credit card information, officials said. Donor information is not at risk of being compromised from those responses.
But church officials said because the 500 missing envelopes were unopened – per the church’s policy – before being placed in the FedEx box, they can’t identify the donors.
The diocese’s administrative office is located in Clifton. Police declined to specify the FedEx drop box location, citing an active investigation.
“The Clifton Police Department is currently investigating a report of missing packages from the Diocese of Paterson, which has its administrative office in the City of Clifton,” said Lt. Robert Anderson. “Multiple packages, each containing numerous smaller items, were intended to be shipped via placement in a commercial carrier drop box, but the packages did not arrive at their destination.”
The missing items include financial donations and financial and personal information of many people, he said.
“The incident is actively being investigated by detectives, who are working with the Diocese of Paterson to locate the missing items and mitigate the potential for misuse of the financial and personal information contained in the packages,” Anderson said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Clifton Police at 973-470-5908.
FedEx did not respond to a request for comment.
The annual appeal asks parishioners to help fund ministries through Catholic Charities agencies, involves forwarding pledges and gifts to a third-party firm that specializes in processing and recording donations, church officials said.
“This is a common practice used by many dioceses and non-profits to ensure there is an independent, ‘arms-length’ distance between the office that conducts a fundraising effort and the funds that come in,” officials said. “This type of separation is a best practice from a financial standpoint.”
The diocese had been using the unnamed third-party firm for more than a decade without issue.
Church officials said they believe the missing responses were received in their office between Oct. 28 and Oct. 31. Anything received before or after the date was not impacted.
“Because of our sense of responsibility to you and out of an abundance of caution, we suggest that you monitor your credit card activity or checking account to make sure there are no irregularities,” officials said in the letter.
Church officials also said they’ve been in “constant contact” with FedEx about the missing donations. They immediately stopped using the drop box.
“While we continue to look for an explanation for this distressing situation, we are not ruling out foul play, and law enforcement authorities have been notified,” officials said. “Please also note that we immediately changed our procedure and now bring all packages to a FedEx store where we watch it get scanned and receive a receipt and tracking information.”
Church officials said they hope the incident does not deter people from supporting the appeal and the church’s ministry moving forward.
“Giving to charity should be a joyful experience, so it is distressing that an action beyond our control may have impacted even a small number of our faithful supporters,” officials said. “What makes this even more upsetting is a concern that this could impact those who want to give to the Diocesan Ministries Appeal but may now be hesitant.”
“This has the unintended effect of impacting funding to the important and vital ministries in our Diocese, such as Catholic Charities, where the need is so great,” they said. “We hope that this does not deter the faithful from supporting our Appeal, especially now that a solution is in place to ensure the tracking of every package.”
People with questions or concerns should contact the diocese’s development office at 973-777-8818 at ext. 215, church officials said.
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Brianna Kudisch may be reached at [email protected].