Archdiocese faces 'bare-bones' 2018 budget

By Neil Pang
Guam Daily Post
July 11, 2017

https://www.postguam.com/news/local/archdiocese-faces-bare-bones-budget/article_5fb1534a-6611-11e7-b585-4b1491908709.html

NEW ASSESSMENTS: Archdiocesan Finance Council member Rick Duenas, center, speaks during a press conference at the Chancery Office in Hagåtña yesterday. Duenas is joined by council President Richard Untalan, right, and Coadjustor Archbishop Michael Byrnes, seated. Photo by Norman M. Taruc

In order for the Archdiocese of Agana to fully meet its financial obligations through the next year, the Archdiocesan Finance Council says Catholic schools and parishes under the purview of the archdiocese will have to increase their revenue collections, by whatever means they deem appropriate.

Members of the council yesterday clarified long-circulating rumors about an alleged tuition hike for Catholic schools when AFC President Richard Untalan and member Rick Duenas explained the latest financial assessment of Guam's largest faith-based organization.

According to Duenas, the Chancery Office has determined that two additional assessments totaling $169 per student per year for Guam's Catholic schools are necessary to keep the church afloat through the next fiscal year.

Those assessments are explained as a $25 per student per year Catholic Schools Operation Student Assessment, that is projected to amount to $110,600 and is budgeted for the office of the Catholic Schools superintendent. Duenas added that of the total $110,600, about $43,000 is the annual salary for the newly appointed superintendent of Catholic education, Richard Zapanta Alvia.

The second assessment, budgeted to make up for the archdiocese's funding shortfall, amounts to $12 per student per month per year, or $144 per student annually, Duenas explained.

Duenas and Untalan said the finance council conducted thorough deliberations, and determined the assessments to be fair. Furthermore, the two reported the assessments may not even translate to an increase in tuition as the AFC decided to leave the decision of how to levy the assessments up to the different schools.

Duenas explained schools may choose to fulfill the assessment by increasing the annual registration fees for students enrolled in Catholic schools, rather than adding it onto tuition fees, or they may choose to hold fundraisers throughout the academic school year. Either way, he said, the schools will ultimately decide how to implement the new assessments.

Duenas reported yesterday the Archdiocese of Agana's budget is "bare bones" and explained the council assessed projected revenues and projected expenditures to both total $2,561,377, meaning there would be no carryover to the next fiscal year.

During yesterday's press conference, Untalan stressed that funds the council expects to collect from schools and parishes around the island will not go to paying any legal fees or settlements regarding the clergy sex-abuse cases pending in local and federal courts.

"I want to make it clear," Untalan said. "The re-assessment of church finances has nothing to do with the sex-abuse cases – absolutely nothing. They're completely separate and apart from each other."

Untalan and Duenas said they had another, separate strategy to deal with the finances regarding the sex-abuse lawsuits and that they will be holding a separate press conference later this week to address that topic.

Duenas: Archdiocese owes millions

On the topic of the church's current financial state, Duenas reported the archdiocese still owes more than $8 million for debt service and other payables. He said the church still owes $3.8 million for a bank loan taken out to pay for the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica, more than $2 million for the now-defunct St. Thomas Aquinas School and about $230,000 for the Epicure building in Hagåtña, which they confirmed has recently been leased to the Judiciary of Guam's Probation Office.

In addition to increased school assessments, the projected revenue for the next year also relies on additional collections from Catholic parishes islandwide.

Duenas reported that parishes can expect to see about a 60 percent increase in their annual financial obligation to the chancery, noting that the final assessment varies from parish to parish and that some will see increases nearing as high as 100 percent more from 2017. He noted that parish assessments have remained unchanged for the past six years.

As the church comes to terms with its strained financial situation, Untalan said that if a parish finds it cannot meet its obligations, the finance council will work with it to find a way. He stressed that, as Catholics, the different parishes would come together to aid those experiencing financial difficulties.