| Scandal costs account for over half of
archdiocese’s $13.4 million deficit
By ARTHUR JONES
Los Angeles
The severely reduced Los Angeles archdiocese central
administration is about to take another hit. In September 2002 the archdiocese
announced a $4.3 million operating deficit that led to the curtailment of 60
staff and many outreach ministries.
Now, according to the Jan. 24 issue of the Los Angeles
Times, the operating deficit is $5.7 million with the archdiocese
allocating a further $7.7 million in “one-time costs” related mainly
to sexual abuse scandal costs. That means a $13.4 million deficit for the year.
No decisions have yet been announced regarding fresh cutbacks.
The Times stated that central administration 2001 year-end
assets were $643.7 million; year-end 2002: almost $10 million less at $626
million. The 2001 figures included $241 million in investments. The
archdiocese, which in September blamed the Wall Street nosedive for declining
investment income, had anticipated $6.2 million in 2001 and 2002, the
Times said, compared to the $5.3 million it garnered in 2000.
Five months ago the archdiocese distanced itself from suggestions
the budget deficit was associated with costs related to the new cathedral or
the sexual scandal. Now, according to the Times, the archdiocese
acknowledges that much of $7.7 million is scandal related.
Meanwhile, the archdiocese reported that parish giving, at $153.8
million for 2002, was up $5.2 million over the previous year; and the annual
“Together in Mission” campaign up $300,000 in 2002.
Meanwhile, in the neighboring San Bernardino diocese, Bishop
Gerald Barnes took sexual abuse recognition to a new level by having a
pedophile victim’s eight-page account distributed with parish bulletins in
all 110 of dioceses churches Jan. 26.
According to a Jan. 27 Los Angeles Times story, the victim
was abused in another California diocese. The story said the account included
details about how church officials had mishandled the victim’s case by
transferring the abusive priest out of state and cutting off funding for
therapy for the victim once sufficient time had passed to make it impossible
for the victim to file a civil suit against the church because of the
state’s statute of limitations provision.
Barnes also appeared in a 20-minute video at all Masses to
describe the violence sex abuse had visited upon its victims. In the video, he
encouraged abuse victims to call a hotline sponsored by the diocese to receive
aid from the church.
Arthur Jones is NCR editor at large. His e-mail address
is arthurjones@attbi.com
National Catholic Reporter, February 7,
2003
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