Dublin church close to 'financial collapse'

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http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0817/church.html

Dublin's Catholic archdiocese is close to a 'state of financial collapse' according to a leaked consultation document from its Council of Priests, details of which are printed in today's Irish Catholic newspaper.
The document says many parishes are in a precarious financial position, close even to a state of financial collapse.
The document blames decreasing levels of collections due to the economic downturn and declining participation at mass. It also cites the ongoing cost of compensatory settlements made to victims of clerical abuse.
This, the document says, has led to reserves the diocese has built up over decades being spent.
It suggests that all central administration posts must be assessed and pay cuts in line with public service pay reductions must be considered by diocesan agencies and parish workers.
The document proposes the possibility of a parish based levy on Catholic families in the parish, which could raise up to €3m a year.
A spokeswoman for the archdiocese confirmed the existence of the document, saying it was aimed at addressing the economic realities facing the archdiocese.
She said to make no changes would have serious financial consequences.

It is understood that members of the Council of Priests, which advises the archdiocese, have been asked to consider the document, speak with priests at parish level and report back on their findings and proposals to a meeting in September.

Already, diocesan staff have seen a significant reduction in their pension provisions and have had their pay frozen over the past three years.

Priests' salaries, which are tied to collections, have also reduced by 6%.

A church bail out on taxpayers maybe?.

Cill Dara Abu

Who cares

Craebear

Fantastic.

Saila

good

Tabnabs

With two thousand years of wealth accumulation, it's just a smoke screen to wangle their way out of paying judgements against them for raping children. :mad:

Arnold Layne

My heart bleed's for them after years of preying on the young & poor.

They can sell their churches or let the vatican bail them out, seeing as the church do not wish to abide by State law when it comes to reporting sexula crimes against children.

If only Bertie & Michael Woods were in government to bail them out

biko

I'm sorry for the people losing jobs (probably all close to retirement anyway) but people can just pray in their houses if they're so inclined.
Not a cent from me. Hopefully the beginning of the end of organised religion in Ireland.

Leeg17

Hahaha, I'm glad.

Biggins

Tabnabs wrote: »

With two thousand years of wealth accumulation, it's just a smoke screen to wangle their way out of paying judgements against them for raping children. :mad:

Yep, they tried this stunt/tactic in America already.

J K

'state of financial collapse' according to a leaked consultation document from its Council of Priests

Oh what a tragic mischance that this internal poor mouth document should accidently fall into the public domain while the church is still trying the get the irish people and taxpayer to continue footing the bill and even pay more for their liability of them raping children and covering it up.

We should foot the bill for an independant audit of their assets and make them cough up 100% of the compensation for their crimes.

Micky Dolenz

Great, another church thread, just what we needed.

The church will never go bust. They own and operate half the schools and hospitals in the western world and they land they sit on. Not to mention the art work, relics etc.

The Waltzing Consumer

Lads, you are being very harsh on them, everyone knows that the Vatican city is very modest, exactly how Jesus would have seen it, no gold, no bling, almost comparable to a slum. They need us to bail them out and we should think about it...

FetchTheGin

Amazing, this is great advertising, you can almost predict all the old dears getting their state pension cheques cashed and giving it to the local Priest when he drives round in his 2011 car.

tfitzgerald

I don't believe a word out of them I think they have plenty of money

TheZohanS

Tabnabs wrote: »

With two thousand years of wealth accumulation, it's just a smoke screen to wangle their way out of paying judgements against them for raping children. :mad:

They're doing their best.

VATICAN CITY—Calling the behavior shameful, sinful, and much more frequent than the Vatican was comfortable with, Pope Benedict XVI vowed this week to bring the widespread pedophilia within the Roman Catholic Church down to a more manageable level.

Addressing thousands gathered at St. Peter's Square on Easter Sunday, the pontiff offered his "most humble apologies" to abuse victims, and pledged to reduce the total number of molestations by 60 percent over the next five years.

"This is absolutely unacceptable," Pope Benedict said. "It seems a weakening of faith in God has prevented our priests from exercising moderation when sexually abusing helpless minors."

"And let me remind our clergy of the holy vows they all took when they entered the priesthood," he continued. "They should know that they're only allowed one small child every other month."

The pope said he was deeply disappointed to learn that the number of children sexually abused by priests was almost 10 times beyond the allowable limit clearly outlined in church doctrine. Admitting for the first time in public that the overindulgent touching of "tender, tender young flesh" had become a full-blown crisis, the Holy Father vowed to implement new reforms to bring the pedophilia rate back down to five children per 1,000 clergy.

"The truth is there will always be a little bit of molestation—it's simply unavoidable," Vatican spokesperson Rev. Federico Lombardi said. "But the fact that young boys have gotten much more attractive over the past few decades is no excuse for the blatant defiance of church limits that have been in place for centuries."

"The majority of priests don't want to molest kids at all," he added. "But for those who do, we must make sure they're doing it at a reasonable rate."

Following the pope's speech, the Vatican released a statement outlining its plan to reduce pedophilia. Starting next year, specially trained cardinals will make unannounced visits to inspect and observe random churches in order to ensure they are not going beyond diocese-wide molestation caps. The inspector-cardinals will grade each parish based on long, private interviews with altar boys in darkened church basements, and careful observation of priests' sexual activity.

These senior officials will also have the authority to enforce harsh punishments for any clergy member violating his allotment of pedophilia.

"If a priest goes even one child over the limit, there will be hell to pay," said Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops Giovanni Battista Re, explaining the Vatican's new "Three Strikes, You're Out" rule. "After the third offense, the offending priest will immediately be moved to another parish. This will give officials time to investigate the case, and will act as an effective deterrent since it usually takes months for priests to gain the trust of the new children."

As a "goodwill measure," Cardinal Re said all churches will also be required to display a sign next to the altar showing the number of days since the last molestation.

Criticism of the pope's new plan has already begun to emerge from within the Catholic Church itself. Rev. Walter Moore, a pastor at St. Peter's in Chicago, questioned the Vatican's methodology in calculating the molestation rates, saying the church's inconsistent definition of pedophilia may have skewed the numbers.

"Is it technically pedophilia if the child's clothes are fully on the entire time? What if he's asleep when it happens?" Moore said. "It's time we had some clear guidance from Rome on this issue. For instance, the church counts it as one incident regardless of whether the child is molested multiple times by the same individual or by two priests at once. That's just plain wrong."

"Plus, if it's supposed to be a special secret between the priest and the boy, is it even any of the church's business in the first place?" he added. "Maybe Brandon is just trying to get attention."

The Vatican would not release details of the pope's upcoming world tour, in which he plans to clear up any confusion on the matter by personally demonstrating what constitutes molestation.

MORE NEWS

Biggins

http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2011/aug/11/bankrupt-henderson-church-fighting-control-cash/

The Church at South Las Vegas filed for bankruptcy protection and reorganization July 8 to avoid foreclosure of its property after the church strategically defaulted on its mortgage.

Officers of the church, which has a ministry helping exploited sex workers in Las Vegas, said it’s deeply underwater on its mortgage for its building at 3051 Horizon Ridge Parkway.

Rome possibly are trying now a variation of tried and tested tactics. Before a court or government can come in by use of CAB(?) or other methods, to take money from them - they claim that they are broke!

Its one more tactic in a line of tactics, by Rome and its priest draped Mafia.

biko

Get back to us when they are in actual financial fiscal collapse.
Until then it's just another reason for us to give out about priests which, albeit amusing, is getting tired.