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	Tucson Diocese Trying to Raise $28 Million to Handle Growth By Sheryl Kornman Tucson Citizen Febriary 1, 2008 http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/75679.php The Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson has embarked on an ambitious $28- million fund-raising campaign. Details of the campaign will be released to members this weekend and the Diocese already has received $6 million in pledges from 22 Tucsonans toward the campaign goal. The fund drive is separate from its annual Catholic Appeal, which raised $4 million in 2007. Growing Catholic populations in three of the nine counties in the diocese - Pima, Pinal and Yuma - prompted Bishop Gerald Kicanas to launch the campaign, "Our Faith, Our Hope, Our Future," said Fred Allison, a spokesman for the diocese. A pilot phase of the campaign began in June at four parishes that have pledged $3 million. The money will be used to: • establish a land trust for future parishes and schools. • increase retirement pay for priests. • assist parishes with classrooms and other infrastructure needs. • enhance religious education programs. • provide $3 million to Catholic Community Services, a social welfare agency. Allison said the Catholic population in the diocese, now 350,000, is expected to double by 2033. The fund drive is an indication the diocese has moved beyond its 2004 Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. Another sign is a report posted on its Web site that shows an investment trust fund created by about 20 parishes of the diocese grew by $5.5 million in its first year. The 43.6 percent increase in assets in the 12 months ending July 2007 comes about two years after the historic bankruptcy reorganization was completed. The value of the trust grew from $12.6 million to $18.1 million as more parishes joined the trust, managed by Wells Fargo Private Client services. Now nearly 50 parishes have placed funds in the trust. Previously, parish savings were held by the diocese. Parish funds include proceeds from parish capital campaigns and other parish fundraising events, bequests and parish savings. Most of the money in the trust is restricted, meaning it can only be used for specified purposes, Allison said. The diocese sought federal bankruptcy court protection in September 2004 to consolidate ongoing litigation by more than 40 victims of sexual abuse by priests and other employees of the diocese. Most perpetrators were priests who moved from parish to parish, repeatedly victimizing children. Some were deceased at the time the suits were filed. As part of the Chapter 11 agreement, the diocese settled with known claimants for a total of about $17 million. A $5 million reserve fund was created to compensate victims who had yet to come forward. Some victims received as much as $100,000 to $600,000 each in civil damages, but most received smaller amounts, ranging from $15,000 to $100,000. The parishes, through a channeling injunction included in the Chapter 11 agreement, became individually immune from civil suits for actions alleged to have happened before to Sept. 20, 2005, the day the diocese emerged from Chapter 11. In November 2005, at Kicanas's suggestion and as part of the diocese reorganization plan, the parishes filed papers with the Arizona Corporation Commission as individual 501(c)3 nonprofits. This made the parishes individually liable only for any civil action taken against them. In 2006, some of the parishes agreed to pool their savings and create the Parish Pooled Investment Trust. Detailed records of the trust are private. Nonprofits are exempt from state public records laws. Earlier this month, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix announced a "civil restructuring" similar to that of the Tucson Diocese.
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