Some reader responses to this article called for more orthodoxy to save the archdiocese. No one listened to my suggestion when the financial ramifications reared up four years ago. The Church has to re-ignite its indulgence marketing boiler. It worked before and it will work again. The Vatican didn’t acquire those treasures by only raffling off Buicks. Turn on the television at any hour and some non-Catholic evangelist is hustling sacred water, holy pebbles and the like. The beauty of indulgences is the profit margin. Except for minimal marketing expense, there are no manufacturing costs. Its better than Arm & Hammer telling consumers to buy their product, open the box and toss the contents down the drain. Indulgence sales are a guaranteed method of erasing the $46 million defcit and insuring an eternally positive cash-flow. If sales flag, just increase the stakes of not buying into the program. All of us sin and no one wants to hear about spending the next zillion years having their ulna bone gnawed by L’il Demons with insatiable appetites. Soon, instead of selling parishes, the Church will be a player in New York real estate and even lowly monsignors will be luxury box guests of corporate CEOs and other gangsters. The classic “…make chicken salad” aphorism works here, and for the Church hierarchy; it’ll be ‘Surf ‘n Turf’ all the way.
Catholic World NewsBoston archdiocese opens books, showing $46 million deficitBoston, Apr. 19 (CWNews.com) - The Archdiocese of Boston has released a full audit of its financial accounts, showing a $46.3 million deficit for the fiscal years 2005-2005.
Cardinal Sean O’Malley had promised a full public accounting of archdiocesan financial affairs, as he argued against a proposed state law that would have required all church bodies to disclose their finances. (The legislation was eventually defeated, with the lobbying help of Protestant and Jewish groups.) In an explanatory statement, the cardinal said that the financial figures demonstrate the need for retrenchment in the archdiocese. He emphasized that the budget crisis is not caused by payments to victims of clerical sexual abuse, since those payments were financed by sale of archdiocesan properties, insurance, and special donations.
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