Diocese Details Use of Church Sale Cash

By Evan Goodenow
The Chronicle-Telegram
January 9, 2012

http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2012/01/09/diocese-details-use-of-church-sale-cash/

Specifics on how money from church sales by the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland is being spent are scheduled to be explained today at a news conference in Lakewood featuring Bishop Richard Lennon and James Gulick, diocese chief financial officer.

The diocese netted $19.5 million through the sales of 26 of 54 closed parishes since 2009, according to its annual report released this weekend to parishioners. Eight county churches were among the closings. The first closing in the county was Holy Cross Church in Elyria in 2009. The last was St. Joseph Church in Lorain, which shut in 2010.

No more closings are planned in the “near future,” diocese spokesman Robert Tayek said Sunday. He said the sales are designed to prevent existing churches from closing.

The report said $6.1 million of the profits will be distributed to existing churches, including the 24 in Lorain County. Another $1.3 million will go to struggling parishes with $400,000 already spent for charitable causes within the diocese. A sizeable portion went the St. Joseph Homeless Shelter in Lorain, Tayek said.

The diocese will keep $6.8 million for upkeep of parishes for sale. Upon sale, profits will be spent for obligations of parishes for sale and costs of existing parishes as well as the Parish Assistance Fund. Another $3.5 million will pay for expenses of closed parishes with $800,000 each for repayment of debts of closed parishes and for payment of past due assessments, insurance payments and priests’ health care.

The report said the diocese, the 23rd largest in the U.S., finished last year with about $17.6 million in revenue with $17.3 million in expenses. Tayek said about 10 churches finished in the red last year.

The sales are in response to declining membership in the Catholic Church around the nation and the diocese, which serves seven counties besides Lorain County. The number of parishes nationally decreased from 19,000 in 2000 to 17,800 in 2010, according to a Georgetown University study cited on the diocese website.

The diocese had 240 parishes and about 800,000 members in 2001, Tayek said. The numbers were down to 174 parishes and about 710,000 parishioners last year, the report said.

The report said a third of diocese parishes were operating at a “significant deficit” at the time of the sales with many in disrepair. The report said “all assets and liabilities” were moved to new churches when mergers occurred or territories were reassigned.

“The distribution of assets is having a significant effect in stabilizing the physical and financial condition of so many parishes that are receiving funds,” Gulick wrote in a letter accompanying the report.

Tayek said none of the money from sales has been used to settle lawsuits over sexual abuse by priests within the diocese. He said the diocese has tried to be a good steward of parishioners’ money and has tried to ensure sales have a positive impact on the neighborhoods where the closed churches are located. “There’s even deed restrictions involved in some of the sales so there can’t be a misuse in the reuse,” he said.

In a letter accompanying the report, Lennon praised parishioners for their generosity.

“Although it was difficult to say goodbye to some beloved parishes, the end result is a more vibrant community of Catholics in Northeast Ohio,” Lennon wrote. “… I am sincerely grateful for your continued love, care and support for the Church.”

Contact Evan Goodenow at 329-7129 or egoodenow@chroniclet.com