a day in the life of the Boston archdiocese

 

Wait a minute. Didn't the announcement that the archdiocese was selling the Caritas Christi hospitals come along with a reassurance that the institutions would retain their Catholic identity? Yes, but then that was followed by the revelation that if the "Catholic identity" thing became burdensome, the new secular owners could pay thirty pieces of silv a large sum to complete the break. And now Jack Connors, the fundraiser, made it clear that he anticipates a thorough secularization. "“The decision of the church to get out of the business is brilliant,” he told the Boston Herald.

 

 

A regular contributor to the archdiocesan newspaper, The Pilot, is forced to apologize for a column that provoked howls of outrage from gay and lesbian activists. Michael Pakaluk had written that children of same-sex couples should not be admitted to parochial schools because, among other reasons, they would be more likely to introduce their classmates to pornography. Pakaluk retracts that portion of his argument and expresses regret for having offended some readers.

 

 

The latest financial figures show that one-third of all parishes in the Boston archdiocese are running budget deficits. The archdiocese as a whole was $2.9 million in the red for the last fiscal year. The priests' pension system is underfunded by $104 million.

 

That's the bad news. The good news is that all those figures were even worse last year. The vicar general, Father Richard Erikson, says: "Where there are many challenges, the outlook is anything but grim."

 

Coulda fooled me. 

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