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…