PORTLAND (OR)
Catholic Online
By Ed Langlois
5/3/2006
Catholic Information Service for Africa (www.cisanews.org/)
PORTLAND, Ore. – In a letter to western Oregon's 390,000 Catholics, Archbishop John G. Vlazny pointed to positive developments in the church as a "larger context" for understanding the Archdiocese of Portland's bankruptcy case.
The letter, released at Masses April 30, also announced a $1 million budget cutback at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center.
The archbishop cited the hundreds of Oregonians who entered the church at Easter, the high number of seminarians, the strength of Catholic schools, church assistance to vulnerable people and the continued preaching of the gospel as reasons "for the hope and the faith that I see in the faithful of this archdiocese."
"Regardless of what may happen in the bankruptcy case,” Archbishop Vlazny said, “we face serious cash flow problems." He said $1 million "in services to the parishes and schools" will be trimmed for the next fiscal year, beginning July 1.