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	Churches Suffer from Collection Meltdown By Arlie Calalo Manila Standard Today January 21, 2009 http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=news4_jan21_2009 EVEN the Catholic Church is smarting from the global financial crisis, said a top Vatican official who arrived in Manila Monday. Cardinal Paul Joseph Cordes, who heads the papal council that helps the needy and disaster victims, acknowledged that the economic crisis has hurt charitable work around the world. "This is a serious concern for the Church, and we try to get wealthy people to get money for the poor," the Vatican official said after he was met by Papal Nuncio Archbishop Edwards Joseph Adams, Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, and Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines president Archbishop Angel Lagdameo. Cordes' statement mirrored a recent assessment by Dagupan-Lingayen Archbishop Oscar Cruz, who said collections during Masses were down 40 percent because of tough financial times. Neither Cordes nor Cruz provided specific figures. Cordes, a German, pointed to the suicide earlier this month of billionaire Adolf Merckle after his business empire crumbled, and said his death led people to realize that money wasn't everything. "We need more than money.... This crisis perhaps could give us a push... to discover other values than money," he said. Cordes is in the country on the invitation of the CBCP to deliver a lecture during its plenary session.
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