December 19, 2004

Archdiocese loses money: report

CHICAGO (IL)
Daily Southtown

Sunday, December 19, 2004

By Allison Hantschel
Staff writer

Most churches and schools in the Archdiocese of Chicago continue to run in the red, even as parishioners' contributions rise, according to the archdiocese's annual financial report released Thursday.

"Archdiocesan leadership understands the challenges to successfully continuing this mission, and is pursuing innovative ways to manage our revenues and expenses," Cardinal Francis George said in a statement. "Despite the difficulties of the present financial situation, we will meet those challenges."

The 374 parishes, 235 elementary schools and six high schools in the archdiocese lost nearly $50 million last year, an increase from a $36 million loss the year before.

And while parishioner contributions rose nearly 4 percent last year, church attendance fell, the report said.

Eight in 10 parishes had trouble breaking even.

The archdiocese pastoral center, which runs the local church, cut its deficit from $88.5 million in 2003 to $8 million last year.

In the past year several dioceses across the country have declared bankruptcy, including Portland, Ore., and Spokane, Wash. Both of those dioceses cited soaring costs of lawsuits over priest sexual abuse.

The Archdiocese of Chicago spent $18.2 million to settle sexual abuse claims in the past year, and archdiocesan officials said none of those settlement payments came from parish contributions.

"Bankruptcy is not an issue for the archdiocese at this point," said archdiocese finance director Thomas Brennan, citing nearly $950 million in assets the local church still holds. "We're not even close to that point."

Posted by kshaw at December 19, 2004 08:00 AM