MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Catholic Insider
The annual report for the Boston Archdiocese was released yesterday amidst much hoopla over the “balanced budget.” There is good news in the report, in that parish collections rose by 4.5% and the archdiocese appears to be on stronger financial footing than in recent years.
But what is not so clear from the reports is the extent to which costs may have been shifted around and money has been moved or redirected from other entities in order to achieve the “balanced budget.” One example: the Clergy Funds, which provides health, welfare, and retirement benefits for 683 Boston priests–285 senior priests and 438 active priests.
A look at the 2011 annual report for the Clergy Funds shows they paid $13.5M in benefits and spent $2.3M in administrative expenses to do so. For every $1 in benefits paid, they spend 17 cents to administer the benefits, or about $3,357 in administrative costs for each priest receiving some benefits.
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