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	Churches, Synagogues Feel Economic Pinch By Fred Tasker Miami Herald May 12, 2008 http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_news/story/530345.html With the economy down and needs up for the homeless, the hungry and the elderly, donations to South Florida churches and other religious institutions are straining to keep up with soaring needs, leaders say. At the Miami Archdiocese, collection-plate revenues are steady, but assessments that individual parishes pay are slow in coming or are down, and needs are up sharply, resulting in the layoff of 49 of the 182 staffers at its Pastoral Center on Biscayne Boulevard, says spokeswoman Mary Ross Agosta. In a letter to parishioners, Archbishop John C. Favalora says: "Each year a greater number of parishes and programs are seeking our financial help, and, therefore, we must prioritize. We can only work with what we have." South Florida's Jewish, Methodist, Episcopal and other faithful face similar problems. At the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, pledges for 2008 are running close to the $24 million raised in 2007, but actual cash receipts are about 10 percent behind, says executive vice president Jacob Solomon. "It relates to stock market fluctuations," he said. "People hope to recoup their market losses before they redeem their pledges. At the same time, demands for our programs have gone up sharply." An area of particular concern is hot meals programs run by Jewish Community Services that feed 1,900 poor and elderly each day, taking particular care to reach elderly Holocaust survivors, he said. Another strain is donations in support of the Israel, he said. Because the U.S. dollar has lost nearly 30 percent of its value against the new Israeli shekel in the past two years, donations from here must increase by 30 percent just to stay even. To cope, he said, the federation is approaching some donors who have not yet made their 2008 pledges and asking them to increase the amount. At Florida's United Methodist Church Conference, collection-plate donations, which support its $170 million annual budget, were up in 2007, but finances were hurt when its statewide hurricane insurance bill quadrupled to $20 million, state treasurer Mickey Wilson said. This year's collections are slightly up again, and tough negotiations have cut the insurance tab, he said. Still, the church is struggling to keep up with increased needs such as the church's Loaves and Fishes programs that feed the homeless and provide shelter in local church gymnasiums and other facilities, he said. "We help the poor and the homeless at every level, from the individual church to the national level," Wilson said. "But the church only has so much money." Nationwide, giving to religious organizations has increased by 6.8 percent per year since 1966, but still has not kept up with non-religious donations. Religious donations made up 45.7 percent of all giving in 1966, but only 32.8 percent in 2006, according to the Giving USA Foundation. At the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida, donations are starting to slump, said Bishop Leo Frade. The diocese includes 83 congregations with 38,000 parishioners. "When the stock market goes down, donations to the church decrease," he said. "Our donations are beginning to show this trend. As people's incomes decrease, their ability to help becomes less and less." At the same time, he said, need is increasing. "We have day-to-day feeding programs at churches from Key West to Jensen Beach. We feed literally thousands and thousands in this area. Our volunteers say the numbers are higher now," the bishop said. At the archdiocese, some of the affected employees are finding jobs elsewhere in the church, others are retiring; severance packages are being provided, Agosta said. "We're seeing a greater needs. We're building low-income housing for the elderly. More people need nursing facilities and assisted living facilities. Catholic schools need subsidies -- they're having difficulty meeting payrolls, they have maintenance on buildings, electric bills." And while collection-plate donations, which make up about 10 percent of archdiocese revenues, are steady, some of the archdiocese's 120 parishes are having trouble paying their annual assessments to the archdiocese, which make up 1.2 percent of archdiocese finances. Parishes that operate schools pay an annual assessment to the archdiocese equal to 10 percent of their yearly operating expenses; parishes without schools pay 26 percent. They pay for it from fundraising carnivals, donations, gifts and other sources. Agosta said the archdiocese's economic difficulties are not a result of the sexual abuse scandal among priests that broke in 2002. Archdiocese insurance policies paid $26.1 million in legal and counseling costs linked to 129 claims involving priests, laity and religious brothers and sisters. She said the economic downturn has not hurt the annual Archbishop's Charities Development Drive, which expects to reach its $10 million goal again this year. Contact: ftasker@MiamiHerald.com
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