For Immediate Release, March 8th, 2005

Contacts: Peter Borre’, 617-448-3850

Cynthia Deysher, 978-807-3336

Council of Parishes Co-Chairs respond to Archdiocese’s Chancellor, David Smith's Statement on Archdiocese’s Finances

The finances of the Archdiocese of Boston appear to be spiraling out of control, based on the recent Associated Press report which draws from a statement of the Archdiocese’s Chancellor, David Smith, to be published in The Pilot on Feb. 25.

According to the AP, the Archdiocese “has used more than $4 million from a fund established to pay for its church closings to cover a portion of its budget deficit”.

The statement of Chancellor Smith, as reported, confirms this: the Parish Reconfiguration Fund, set up as the collection mechanism for proceeds realized by the sale of closed parishes and the take-over of parish assets, has disbursed $4.2 million “in support of ongoing parish operations”. This line item includes several overhead accounts, notably the Archbishop’s Office, the Regional Bishops Office, Facilities and Real Estate, and the Planning and Research Office. In plain words, vibrant parishes are being closed and sold off, and parish bank accounts are being appropriated by the Archdiocese, to support the deficit operations of the Archdiocese’s central bureaucracy. To date, the Archdiocese has taken over more than $5 million in bank deposits from some of the seven parishes now closed and “in vigil”.

The Archdiocese’s operating deficit is obviously out of control, and the Archdiocese is incapable of dealing with its soaring deficits: since FY-2002 the operating deficit has grown from $12 million in that year, to $15 million in FY-2003 and passed $20 million in FY-2004. The recent Archdiocese statements about “$10 million operating losses” are wrong and misleading.

The Chancellor himself stated recently that “we are operating at a rate that is unsustainable off of current revenue” (The Pilot, Nov. 19, 2004). It is now clear that the Archdiocese is sustaining its heavy overhead expenditures by the liquidation of parishes and the seizing of parish liquid assets – this is the real rationale for “Reconfiguration”.