Archdiocese to Sell St. Francis Country House
By Patti Mengers
Officials in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia are marketing St. Francis Country House in Darby for potential sale along with five other nursing homes and one assisted-living facility operated by Catholic Health Care Services in an effort to defray a multimillion-dollar operating deficit.
Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput said Tuesday he may also hire private contractors to manage and operate Immaculate Heart of Mary Cemetery in Upper Chichester, St. Michael’s Cemetery in Chester, SS. Peter and Paul Cemetery in Marple, eight other archdiocesan cemeteries and two sites targeted for future cemeteries in Bucks and Chester counties to try and save money.
“Our difficult financial situation must be addressed and the actions that we need to take may be painful ones. I understand this fact fully, but it is of critical importance that we rebuild our financial foundation so that we can continue our collective good works,” said Chaput in a prepared statement.
Audited financial statements published by the archdiocese in July revealed a $39.2 million operating deficit for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012, “as well as several very significant and ongoing balance sheet issues that measure in the hundreds of millions of dollars,” according to a press release.
The 100-year-old Catholic Health Care Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia administers more than 1,400 skilled nursing and assisted-living care beds and employs about 1,100 full-time and 950 part-time employees.
“A condition to any possible sale would be the retention of all current nursing home residents regardless of their payor status. Every effort will be made to ensure continued employment for all those currently working within the system,” a press release issued Tuesday by the archdiocese stated.
Every effort would also be made to retain the nearly 160 full-time and 30 seasonal employees working in the central office and at the 11 burial grounds operated by the Catholic Cemeteries Office of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, should management be outsourced, according to archdiocesan officials. The archdiocese would retain ownership of the cemeteries.
The potential nursing home sales and cemetery management outsourcing are Chaput’s latest cost-cutting measures that began in June 2012 with the dissolution of the Catholic Standard & Times, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s 117-year-old newspaper, and the elimination of 45 archdiocesan staffers and merger of several programs. There was a reduction of 25 percent of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center’s work force, according to archdiocesan officials.
Last September, archdiocesan officials sold Villa St. Joseph, their shore retreat for retired priests in Ventnor, N.J., for $4.5 million at auction to Steve and Ilene Berger of Newtown Square.
Last year, the cardinal’s residence, where Philadelphia archbishops have lived since 1935, was also sold for $10 million to Saint Joseph University. The archbishop moved to an apartment across the street from the mansion at St. Charles Seminary in Wynnewood, Montgomery County.
The archbishop noted that previous deficits had been counteracted with the sale of assets or the drawing down of investments.
“This can’t continue and it won’t continue, and I’ve asked our financial staff and Archdiocesan Finance Council to do everything required by best business standards to balance our local church’s budget by Fiscal Year 2014,” Chaput said in 2012.
He noted that the staff reductions and program mergers were determined after officials in the archdiocesan Office of Financial Services scrutinized all offices and ministries, implemented cost-cutting measures and eliminated nonessential subsidies.
To offset the projected budget shortfall last year, Chaput planned to merge 19 offices or ministries that were included in the more than 40 ministries that come under the auspices of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center.
Archdiocesan officials said the 45 employees who lost their jobs in June 2012 received 60 days of pay and one week of severance pay for each year of service. Remaining staff were not expected to receive raises in the upcoming fiscal year. All laid-off employees were to be paid for accrued and unused vacation time.
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