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To: Priests, Deacons, Brothers, Sisters, Principals, Parish and Chancery Staff
From: Paula Gwynn Grant, Director, Office of Communications
Many thanks to the parish staff and pastors who notified our office about a fraudulent phone call they received from someone claiming to be “Msgr. Walsh” asking for monetary donations to assist family in dire circumstances.
This call was received today at St. Brigid, St. Andrew and St. Peter Chanel Catholic Churches. Last week, the same call and a corresponding fake email came to Holy Redeemer.
Please know that this is a scam. Msgr. Walsh is certainly not calling around the archdiocese with such a request. Of course, none of our pastors would ever do this.
Also at St. Brigid’s, a different fraudulent email was recently sent to their parishioners from a Gmail account. The email looked as if it was from their pastor and it asked for a donation of I-Tunes gift cards. Fr. Neil Herlihy quickly did the right thing and notified his parishioners via email that this was indeed a scam and not from him.
As you are aware, cybersecurity and phone scams are major issues right now in our country and around the world. As Church, we too must be vigilant as we continue to minister to people.
Please take a moment to review your business communication practices in regards to screening phone calls and assessing needs.
Remember to handle financial assistance requests according to your parish/school procedures. When in doubt, please contact us for verification, if needed.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.