UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
Vinnie Rotondaro | Sep. 30, 2014
BALTIMORE Just off a suburban thoroughfare on the outskirts of Baltimore, tucked away behind the cover of trees and a few rolling hills, sits the oldest Catholic seminary in the United States: St. Mary’s Seminary & University, founded in 1791.
In late July 2014, an economics professor by the name of Charles Zech visited the historic divinity school to teach a seminar on a subject that most U.S. seminaries, to this very day, do not touch: financial management.
Church finance, to be exact.
“No one I know who wants to become a priest says they want to run a business,” said Zech, who directs the Center for Church Management and Business Ethics at the Villanova School of Business, “but that’s what a parish often is.”
Zech’s July 28-31 workshop focused on financial issues at the parish level and drew 18 participants from East Coast states. Some were seminarians. Others were parochial vicars. Many were already serving in pastoral roles. Nearly all appeared to be under the age of 50 — most in their 30s or early 40s.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.