PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change
March 21, 2012
ARCHBISHOP CHAPUT’S WEEKLY COLUMN:
THE NATURE OF THE CHURCH AND THE IMPORTANCE OF LAY ACTION
In the next few months, at my request, the Catholic Standard and Times will publish a report on the financial condition of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, including its offices, ministry programs and many of its related agencies and non-profit corporations.
Too often we think of the Church as an institution, and institutions are hard to love. The structures of Catholic life are required by canon and civil law, and they’re important. But they’re also secondary. At her heart, the Church is a family, a community of believers. Like any family, her members have mutual obligations of respect and accountability. This has practical consequences. We ask our people to be generous. As a result, they have a right to know that their resources, which the Church holds in trust for them, are used properly.
To put it another way: We can’t be confident about the future; we can’t even begin to solve our problems; unless we’re well informed. Much of this year’s financial information will be new. Some of it will be quite sobering. Nonetheless, beginning this year and every year in the future, we will provide to our people as full a picture of our financial life as a Church as we reasonably can.
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