MINNESOTA
Bilgrimage
William D. Lindsey
In the financial report recently released (pdf) by the archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis providing details of its financial records for 2013, there’s an interesting detail that, to my mind, richly deserves a great deal of attention. As Brian Roewe notes for National Catholic Reporter and Jean Hoffensperger and Tony Kennedy for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the report shows the archdiocese’s operating expenses jumping by about $9 million in 2012. Part of the reason is that the archdiocese, which faces an onslaught of lawsuits related to clerical abuse of minors, added $5 million to its litigation reserve fund in 2012.
But as Hoffensperger and Tony Kennedy note, the report also shows that the archdiocese “spent an additional $2.8 million on its communications office and an evangelical initiative” in this time frame. Here’s Brian Roewe on the same jump in expenses for the communications office and “an evangelical initiative”:
Also of note was the rapid growth of its communications and community relations services. In 2012, the departments’ expenses totaled $731,541, lowest among all programs and services. A year later, the expenses spiked to $3.6 million — greater than that of parish services ($2.2 million) and of the general and administrative costs ($3.1 million), which includes the archbishop, auxiliary bishops, and its financing and accounting.
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