ARIZONA
Fox 11
10:13 AM MST on Monday, September 26, 2005
By Stephanie Innes / Arizona Daily Star
"Ma and pa management" in the Roman Catholic Church must end, Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of the Diocese of Tucson writes in the Sept. 26 issue of a national Catholic magazine.
"We have learned painfully the problems that can result from poor record-keeping and sloppy administration," Kicanas writes in the weekly publication America, in an article about the end of the local diocese's Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. "Parishes and dioceses need to report their financial status to the community clearly and comprehensively, yet sometimes they do not."
Kicanas describes the Diocese of Tucson, which officially emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week, as a church "purified and humbled, yet more resolved to carry on Christ's work." He says the bankruptcy taught him that the era of "Lone Ranger" ministry is gone and that ordained priests need to work together, pray together and hold each other accountable.
"While working in the seminary, I became acquainted with many diocesan presbyterates served by the seminary. I realized that priests do not easily get along or work well together," he writes. "Some priests bear grudges and harbor anger or resentment for things that have happened to them. Some priests are jealous of others' success. . . . The Chapter 11 experience has convinced me that greater attention needs to be given to priests."