Diocese details use of church sale cash

OHIO
The Chronicle-Telegram

Filed by Evan Goodenow January 9th, 2012

Specifics on how money from church sales by the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland is being spent are scheduled to be explained today at a news conference in Lakewood featuring Bishop Richard Lennon and James Gulick, diocese chief financial officer.

The diocese netted $19.5 million through the sales of 26 of 54 closed parishes since 2009, according to its annual report released this weekend to parishioners. Eight county churches were among the closings. The first closing in the county was Holy Cross Church in Elyria in 2009. The last was St. Joseph Church in Lorain, which shut in 2010.

No more closings are planned in the “near future,” diocese spokesman Robert Tayek said Sunday. He said the sales are designed to prevent existing churches from closing.

The report said $6.1 million of the profits will be distributed to existing churches, including the 24 in Lorain County. Another $1.3 million will go to struggling parishes with $400,000 already spent for charitable causes within the diocese. A sizeable portion went the St. Joseph Homeless Shelter in Lorain, Tayek said.

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