financial life after death

By ( articles ) | Jan 18, 2008

What does it cost to run a parish?

About $10,000 a month, according to a Boston Globe report. But that's for a very select group of parishes: parishes that have been closed.

That's right, closed. No parochial schools. No priests. No parish bulletin-- but then you wouldn't need to check the bulletin for the Mass schedule, because there isn't any. For $10,000 a month the archdiocese is getting nothing.

Yet that's not quite true either. For $10,000 a month the archdiocese is getting aggravation, provided by the dissidents staging sit-ins at these parishes. The cash-flow is negative. So is the publicity. So are the vibes. Not quite dead yet, these unquiet parishes are haunting the chancery.

The financial wizards said that closing parishes would help balance the budget. But it's hard to see how a $10,000 outlay each month, steadily generating negative returns, will resolve a deficit. Now there's a new line from the chancery:

"As we look ahead, we are faced with significant financial challenges."

Thanks. I guess we knew that.