In the “U. S Briefs” section of the June 11, 2010 edition of NCR there is a short article about the Diocese of Springfield (MA) cutting one-third of its employees. This is the Diocese to which we belong and where Springfield Sisters of St. Joseph have served for over 125 years. Several SSJs who work in diocesan positions were affected by this job shake-up and the Congregation will experience a significant loss of revenue.
Along with the cuts has been a pervasive restructuring of the way the Diocese is organized to deliver its spiritual and ministerial responsibilities. According to the Bishop these drastic measures were necessitated because of the downturn in the economic markets, the increased financial demands to subsidize Catholic schools and some parishes’ failure to meet their financial obligations. While it may be true that the drop in revenue is not due to settlements for abuse victims, the drop in the number of people in the pews has surely been impacted by the Church’s handling of the clergy sex scandal.
Like CEOs of everything from states, to school systems, to healthcare systems, the Bishop is in an untenable position. While he seems to be doing what is humanly possible – at great cost to everyone touched by the Diocese – to address the situation, it looks to be spiraling slowly downward anyway.
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Thanks for the reporting. I share your concern, and agree with you that the cost of the abuse scandal has discouraged the rank and file. If Bishop McDonnell faced up to this fact, he would inspire the faithful. We might even be able to start talking about rehabilitation and reconciliation for the offenders, something that is now unthinkable because of the head-in-the-sand approach of the hierarchy. Let's hope for more, but, realistically, it may be that we have to wait for the next Bishop.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I disagree that the Bishop has done everything humanly possible to deal with the increasingly dire financial situation.
Let us consider that the results for FY2008, which cover the months from July of 2007 to June of 2008, were not released until March of 2010. That is a lag of nearly two years! This was a choice of the Bishop.