 |
||
 |
||
|
BISHOP LEADS REVIEW Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio led 450 parish representatives in an examination of the fiscal health of the Diocese of Brooklyn and its parishes at a Nov. 3 meeting, termed a “financial summit,” at the Immaculate Conception Center, Douglaston.
He said he called the meeting in order to give “a panorama, a broad view” of diocesan finances. It was an expanded version of a similar meeting the Diocese has presented annually since l998.
Emphasizing that the diocesan mission is “to develop holiness in our people,” Bishop DiMarzio said it requires the Diocese to address practical questions about how to maintain sufficient financial resources to keep essential pastoral services viable.
A series of reports presented during the two-hour session acknowledged the generosity of parishioners in support of the Annual Catholic Appeal, the principal fund-raising program of the Diocese, but also made clear that a large majority of parishes have operating deficits.
“I can’t thank you enough for the extraordinary results” of the 2005 Annual Catholic Appeal, he told the pastors and parish staff members who attended the meeting. Through Nov. 2, parishioners had pledged to contribute $10,185,851 to the campaign, whose goal was $6.5 million for diocesan programs and services, with funds received over goal to benefit parishes for their local needs.
At the same time, the Bishop reported that operating deficits were facing 86 percent of the 216 parishes in Brooklyn and Queens. He said the number of parishes unable to meet medical, self-insurance and pension obligations was mounting annually, requiring the Diocese to step in to pay the bills.
Martin J. McManus, the diocesan controller, one of five presenters, said in the fiscal year that ended Aug. 31, the Diocese underwrote $1,296,000 in medical and pension costs and $1,739,000 in self-insurance bills for parishes.
In introductory remarks, Msgr. John J. Bracken, the Vicar General for Temporalities, said the fiscal difficulties facing parishes imperiled their ability to serve as “incubators of evangelization.” Bishop DiMarzio has focused on evangelization as a theme of his ministry in the Diocese, having made it the subject of his first pastoral letter last year.
A report on the central funds of the Diocese by Francis W. Galligan, the chief financial officer, underscored the importance of future financial planning, stating that unrestricted diocesan reserves could be wiped clean in five years “if nothing changes.”
The unrestricted reserves of the Diocese were affected by the downturn of the financial markets in 2001 and 2002, he said. In the last three years, the Diocese has had to commit more of its reserves to parishes and schools, and in 2005/2006 the commitment is for $10 million. The diocesan budget for this year’s programs, services and parish- and school-support anticipates a $9 million reduction in reserves.
Mr. Galligan offered an encouraging message to diocesan workers, noting that the lay employee pension plan, with $525 million, is “fully funded and exceptionally solvent.”
In his report on the results to date of the 2005 Annual Catholic Appeal, Msgr. Joseph P. Nagle, the pastor of St. Patrick’s Church, Fort Hamilton, and chairman of the appeal’s Pastors’ Advisory Committee, paid tribute to the financial support given by diocesan priests, whose average gift was $717.
He also reported that the number of parishioners who donated funds jumped by 3,000 to 45,361, the average gift increased by $75 to $225 and 188 parishes surpassed their pledge goal.
Msgr. Nagle said the pastors’ committee was scheduled to meet with Bishop DiMarzio to discuss plans for the 2006 appeal and noted that seven pastors were being added to the current membership: Msgrs. Edward B. Scharfenberger, St. Matthias, Ridgewood, and George J. Ryan, St. Anastasia’s, Douglaston, and Fathers Joseph G. Fonti, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Williamsburg, William M. Hoppe, St. Thomas the Apostle, Woodhaven, Francis T. Shannon, Blessed Sacrament, Cypress Hills, George M. Hernandez, St. Barbara’s, Bushwick, and Steven A. Ferrari, St. Elizabeth’s, Ozone Park.
In his remarks, Bishop DiMarzio lauded two diocesan initiatives he learned of when he arrived in Brooklyn two years ago: the Peter Turner Insurance Company and the Compostela Fund. “They are sources of revenue to the whole Diocese,” he said.
Peter Turner, a “captive” insurance company established four years ago, provides lines of coverage to the Diocese and parishes that are less expensive than what is generally available from the insurance market.
Compostela, which invests funds of the Diocese, parishes and diocesan agencies, provides an above-average rate of return through policies that minimize risks and costs and abide by the Church’s moral and ethical standards. It was created in 2000.
“This Diocese is way ahead of others” in providing these services, Bishop DiMarzio stated.
The Bishop also said:
---Parishes delinquent in paying diocesan bills, though able to, must “in justice” do so by Dec. 31.
---Requests for proposals have been issued to fund-raising firms for a campaign to raise $100 million from the business community to assist Catholic education.
---Parish finance councils “should be real” and must function cooperatively with Parish Pastoral Planning Councils, with a view to strengthening the management of parish income and expenses. In the next two years, “difficult decisions” will have to be made, he said.
In his opening statement, Msgr. Bracken drew observations from the U.S. bishops’ 1992 pastoral letter, “Stewardship: A Disciple’s Response,” which challenges parishes and dioceses to be “true communities of faith” which, he said, “carry out the Vatican Council’s mandate to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ in a vast and complicated world.”
Describing how the pastoral letter connected sound business practice to stewardship, he said the bishops called the former “a fundamental of good stewardship,” while declaring that the latter “must include the most stringent ethical, legal and fiscal standards” as they related to Church finances.
Msgr. Bracken said the letter stressed that “pastors and parish staffs must be open, consultative and collegial in their conduct of affairs,” and also noted that bishops and diocesan staffs are to be models of good stewardship.
“Authentic Christian stewardship inevitably leads to evangelization,” he said, quoting from the bishops’ letter. “By our gratitude, accountability, generosity and willingness to give back to the Lord, we proclaim that the Kingdom of God is coming,” he said.
Msgr. Bracken said when the audited financial report of the diocesan central funds for the fiscal year that ended Aug. 31 is completed, copies will be sent to every parish, continuing a practice begun several years ago. It will also be printed in The Tablet and placed on the diocesan Web site.
# # # # #
|
|
|
||