A former bishop of The Episcopal Diocese of Florida has been accused of financial misconduct while he was in office, with the clergyman denying any wrongdoing.
The Rev. John Howard, who led the regional body from 2004 to 2023, is the subject of two Title IV disciplinary cases, the details of which were released by The Episcopal Church earlier this week.
One document outlining financial misconduct allegations dated June 2024 states that while serving as bishop, Howard misappropriated money taken from the bishop’s official discretionary fund for personal use.
This included using the fund to pay three contractors approximately $18,000 in 2019 to make improvements to the heating, ventilation and air conditioning at his personal residence.
Additionally, Howard is accused of directly benefitting from a donation by an unnamed “wealthy donor” who gave a sizable sum annually to a church entity known as the Diocesan Foundation, which then went to the bishop.
“The effect of the arrangement to characterize the annual gift to Respondent as compensation from an employer, the Diocesan Foundation, was to artificially inflate the calculation of Respondent's total assessable compensation each year,” explained the document.
“For example, in the year 2019, Respondent's assessable compensation, which would have otherwise been based on total W-2 earnings of $219,669.12 and other assessable benefits from the Diocese, was inflated by an additional $120,000 when the gift was counted as assessable compensation from employment by the Diocesan Foundation.”
A third allegation of misconduct against Howard alleges that he wrongfully benefitted from a loan provided by the diocese on his Jacksonville residence, which was eventually forgiven.
In an official response to the allegations made in June 2024, Howard asserted that each of the financial actions on his part were “transparent” and “approved by lay authorities of the Diocese.”
Howard said the diocese agreed to using the discretionary fund for the HVAC repairs, since his residence was used “for multiple Diocesan purposes,” including “Diocesan fundraising, entertaining and business and pastoral meetings, as well as occasional lodging for Diocesan guests.”
Regarding the donor funds that came to him through the Foundation, Howard responded that diocesan officials met with the donor and approved of the compensation, adding that he “reported this supplemental income as earned income on his annual Form 1040 income tax filings with the Internal Revenue Service.”
As to the accusation surrounding the diocese loan forgiveness on his Jacksonville residence, Howard said it “was expressly approved by resolutions of the Diocesan Finance Committee dated October 20, 2016 and December 8, 2021.”
“For these reasons, the transactions regarding the Bishop's residence described in the Statement's third alleged offense were (i) fully transparent, (ii) authorized by Diocesan lay authorities and (iii) properly documented in the records of the Diocese. The transactions are not proscribed by any canon law of the Episcopal Church,” added the response.
In addition to financial misconduct allegations, Howard also faces a second case regarding allegations that he discriminated against LGBT individuals while serving as bishop.
Howard has again denied any wrongdoing, responding in part that his opposition to homosexuality was covered by official Episcopal Church clergy conscience protections.
Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe explained in a letter on Monday that negotiations between the two parties in the Title IV process are underway “with the hope that we can reach an accord that promotes healing, repentance, forgiveness, restitution, justice, amendment of life, and reconciliation.”
If the two parties cannot reach an agreement, a public hearing will be held on April 30.
