win-win

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Jul 06, 2010

Still struggling to pay the bills, the Boston archdiocese has announced that all parishes will be expected to send 18% of their revenue to the chancery. That will shift some of the fundraising burden to individual pastors, but the archdiocesan staff is ready to help. Or at least to tell the pastors where to find help. And give them a shove in that direction.

The archdiocese is pushing parishes to hire professional fund-raising consultants to encourage parishioners to give more generously and consistently. “Hopefully it will be a win-win situation in terms of greater fund-raising and in terms of a greater relationship between the various ministries and the outreach of the Archdiocese of Boston,’’ said the Rev. Richard M. Erikson, vicar general of the archdiocese.

It’s a “win” for archdiocese, because the parishes will send more money. Understood. But how is it a “win” for the parishes? Ah, because they’ll have more dealings with the archdiocesan staff. Which is, no doubt, just what the typical Boston pastor wants.

Remember the economic rule that the late Jack Kemp cited so frequently: When you subsidize something, you get more of it; when you tax it, you get less. The Boston archdiocese is now subsidizing the parishes that have already closed, and taxing the revenue of the parishes that stay open. The predictable result: the functioning parishes will bring in less revenue, and more parishes will be closed.

Count on it. Make a note on your calendar to re-read this post in 5 years, and see how it worked out.