Diocese of Scranton adds collection to boost priests' benefits

by laura legere (staff writer)
Published: June 23, 2009

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The Diocese of Scranton announced this weekend the start of a new monthly collection to help pay for the retirement, education and health care costs of priests.

In flyers tucked into parish bulletins on Father's Day, the diocese outlined the widening gap between the rising costs of clergy care and education and the insufficient funds available to pay for those programs.

Bishop Joseph F. Martino said a second collection to be held at Masses on the first weekend of every month will be used to cover what he called the "enormous" costs of training and care, which are currently not fully met by ordinary diocesan revenues.

In the 2008-2009 fiscal year, the diocese is $1.8 million short of the $8.6 million needed to pay for clergy care and education, according to diocesan figures. Parish assessments and funds raised through the diocesan annual appeal contributed $6.8 million for those programs.

Bishop Martino said the new monthly collection "seems to be the most effective and understandable way to meet our obligations to the clergy" rather than increasing the assessments paid by parishes throughout the diocese.

According to diocesan figures for the 2008-09 fiscal year:

- The diocese had to pay $1.1 million for "clergy support and medical assistance" above the $2.9 million parishes contributed to cover health insurance premiums for active priests. Diocese spokesman William Genello said he could not specify what accounted for those costs because they pertain to "medical or other personal issues," but he said "the diocese is obligated to provide necessary care for priests who might be dealing with a variety of personal issues." He also said the costs have exceeded the amount budgeted for them.

- Costs to run the Villa St. Joseph retirement home for priests exceeded the funds parishes contributed to operate it by $38,000.

- Health care costs for retired priests were more than double the $696,000 parishes contributed for those expenses.

- Seminary and clergy education cost $263,000, but the diocese projects education expenses "will increase significantly" in the next fiscal year. Mr. Genello said a number of priests will be engaged in advanced studies this year, in part because priests must be trained in specific areas, like Canon Law, as older priests with those specialities retire.

Contact the writer: llegere@timesshamrock.com

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TO ALL YOU COMPLAINERS, WHY DON'T YOU ALL GET TOGETHER AND START YOUR OWN NON-CATHOLIC CHURCH. HAVE YOUR OWN COLLECTIONS, GIVE WHAT YOU COLLECT TO (SOMEONE?), SEE WHAT THEY DO WITH THE MONEY, AND AT THE END OF THE YEAR, PUBLISH IN THE NEWSPAPER WHAT HAPPENED WITH YOUR MONEY DONATED. HOPEFULLY WOULD GO TO A GOOD CAUSE, I WONDER.. I WILL GLADLY GIVE TO THE PRIEST'S RETIREMENT, ETC. FUND.

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Happy To Give, 06/23/09 06:52

How many of the parishoners are struggling to pay for their own health care premiums, have adaquate retirement funds, or are able to access the best college education that they desire? Perhaps we need to pass the basket and give that money to the people! Who is looking out for the "sheep" who have sacrificed their best interests to support the church with their money all these years?

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Question, 06/23/09 06:51

i give anything to the priests' fund if we get a new bishop. we need a bishop for all of the people.otherwise,give me more jesuits and preists from notre dame,portland,and other associate colleges. they will fit nicely in this diocese.

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richard p. mchugh, 06/23/09 06:00

I see Father Bechtel has written that he practices what he preaches, my one question is; what have you practised? have you given freely of yourself to a stranger on the street? not just folks at organized functions? when is the last time you took your shoes off and gave them to someone who's shoes were no longer fit for wearing? when was the last time you stepped off the curb and onto a bus, just to meet your fellow brothers and sisters? The reason that I, Jerome James Henehan cannot affect you is that you have status whereas, I have none. I do have power over what I see is god's plan for me, I wish I could do more, I pray I never lose sight of the fact that single every bit, no matter how small, is the potential of everything I shall ever need. I'm thankful for that, I just wish thanks and praise would be displayed more genuinely by our spiritual leadership. thank you.

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Jerome J. Henehan, 06/23/09 05:54

Are you people high? Can't pay your way into "heaven". These guy's play golf At the country club. Big money here people!

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JL, 06/23/09 03:37

Perhaps the Pope can get Jerry Lewis to drop his muscular dystrophy cause and have a telethon for a more worthy cause like the Bishop Martino, Father Dave Bechtel health care/retirement/freeloaders club over Labor Day Weekend. Oh, never mind, Ed McMahon died today and there would be nobody to call out the numbers on the tote board for the three people who would donate.

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Norm Crosby, 06/23/09 03:21

Why is it ..on the St Pauls Web Site under High School Catholic Education Holy Cross is not listed? Scranton Prep is not part of the Scranton Diocese...but yet the lick is there..is the Diocese getting some kick back for each student that enrolls there? My thoughts The Bishop should be gone...and then I will give back to the Church....

http://home.catholicweb.com/stpaulsparish/index.cfm/bookmarks

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Help Me, 06/23/09 03:06

Another collection? I feel bad for the Catholics who are hanging in there and still attend Mass every week. They are being bled dry. Attendance goes down and the collections go up. Eventually, just like our national economy, it will all come crashing down.

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Beth, 06/23/09 03:02

the nerve of the diocese to ask for another collection for the benefits packages of the priets.what happened to their vows of poverty etc ? look at the size of those rectorys they live so humbly in along with the royal bishops mansion . the only collection should be taken to send the not so good bishop and his henchmen who post their gibberish on here packing cassock in hand this diocese is a shambles thanks to his royal highness the great joseph m

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mike, 06/23/09 02:59

I will not give a dime toward this collection. My priest has been on four extended vacations this year to Ireland, Rome, Florida and New York and it is not July yet. I have not taken a vacation this year. Every time I go into a restaurant he is eating, breakfast lunch and dinner there and it is not cheap. Before this collection is taken, there should be a moratorium placed on all priestly vacations and dining out until the priests save up enough of their own money to pay for their health care and retirement. I thought the Bishop's Appeal was for priestly care and formation. How can seminary expenses be going up when there used to be eight or ten seminarians per class and now there are one or two? American priests and nuns have grown lazy and spoiled. They don't want to serve they want to be served. If you want a free ride for life for doing very little join the priesthood, it's a great club for freeloaders.

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Pius, 06/23/09 02:56

A third collection will be added to buy martino a ONE WAY bus ticket back to Philly. never mind , I will pay for that myself.

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chrissy, 06/23/09 02:49

The church's finances need to be given to the parishoners to handle, not the bishop's. everything on top of the table, transparency. By the way martino why don't you release your taxes for the last 5 years? after all WE did pay your salary.

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Professor Tom, 06/23/09 02:39

Load the baskets with...MARTINO MONEY !!!

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bishop bill, 06/23/09 02:36

health care costs for priests???...thats funny... our uncle didn't recieve one GD dime, for his health care costs, when he got sick and retired from the diocese. he had to use his own meager savings
till his death.

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K. Klein, 06/23/09 02:33

IN ADDITION....The sad part is how the teachers,parents and students were all told that the money the diocese spent to do the studies about consolidating schools was supposed to make the schools stronger,increase enrollment and stop any future closings. GUESS WHAT..you make the call on that one.

And how we were all told very strongly that if the teachers got a union, more schools would close...GUESS WHAT..the teachers don't have a union and martino keeps closing schools...so don't blame the teachers

And what happened to when the four high schools in luzerne county were closed into forming one. The study says that they are supposed to acquire land for athletic programs and develop the new site. (That's two years ago already still waiting for that to happen).
Invest in a major new marketing, recruitment and public relations initiative to reshape image of school.(still waiting for that as well)

It appears that the closings and consolidations did more harm then good. Hundreds upon hundreds of families and their children who used to attend catholic schools only two years ago, have left for a variety of reasons,increased tuition,farther travel distance,unhappy with the way they were treated,unhappy with the way the teachers were treated, unhappy with the closings and cosolidations,education quality diminished,unhappy with the diocese...etc...

Lots of times something may look good on paper, but in reality that doesn't always pan out in the real world. This shouldn't of been rushed into, it should of been a more through thought process and more teachers and parents included and involved in the process.. it should of been a 3 to 4 year transistion to implement,and then over that time some concerns could of been addressed and corrected to adjust..

Now the bed is made, and this is what we get to sleep in. And I for one ...don't like my new bed

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John V., 06/23/09 02:29

I moved far away from Scranton. If I feel homesick I just read the Times online and get over it fast. The stuff that goes on back home never ceases to amaze me. There has to be other ways of funding the Diocese and their escalating costs. I mean, they can't possibly expect the parishes to pick up the slack. Pretty soon they'll be sending the catholic school kids door to door, collecting money like they did years ago.

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Connery, 06/23/09 02:13

Father Dave Bechtel,

I would agree with you that if you are rich you should donate more, and I do agree that there may be a small number of parishioners that limit their contributions because they believe the Catholic Church is rich, which is wrong. However, My outrage was not "manufactured," it was a respond to your stimuli. I think you make insulting assumptions that the preponderance of people do not donate enough and the majority of people don't give because they think the church is rich. I am starting to believe that the catholic church is starting to look at it's parishioners as "piggy banks" and not as god's children, and I feel that your statements support that feeling, even in the face of a terrible recession. And let's face it, NEPA has never been rich. That's why RFK came here during the 68' elections trying to outline Appalachian poverty.

Yet, there my forefathers were, donating their treasure when they had none and donating their talent to build churches. Now, the treasure is gone, and the churches are going to. I couldn't even attend the University of Scranton or Marywood, and had to attend Penn State Main Campus for four years instead (which was a step up I might add) because my parents couldn't afford to send my brothers and I there. I served as an altar server and sacristant but I didn't receive.......yet I still gave....as do the majority of others.

At the very least, this "fundraising drive" is bad timing, and at most it is Evil, and I don't know how one can defend this. Even if it is bad timing, it is a demonstration of how insensitive the church has become to the human condition.....this insensitivity, which your assumptions illustrate, may be why people don't give as much, and don't attend as much. The same situation resulted in the Protestant Reformation over 500 years ago. The church must get back to basics. The church can start by practicing the Prayer of St. Francis.

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Anti-Father Bechtel, 06/23/09 01:42

Watch out for coal in that collection!!

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Father Roy, 06/23/09 01:41

Father Dave, with all due respect to you and Bishop Martino, could you please answer a question. Bishop Martino is running the diocese like a business. In past posts in other articles, you and others defended that practice. No problem-that's understandable. But in a business, retirement, health care and education are considered "perques". If there are 250 active and retired priests, those perques are about $35,000 per priest, over and above salary. I realize that your salary may be minimal, but when you include room and board, food, and many bills that most of us face being paid, and add in the "perques" you might conceivably be doing better than some of the people that you say are not supporting their parishes. These people are losing their health care, possibly have no retirement account, or their educational expenses covered. They can't take up a monthly collection to pay for these things. If times are that hard, maybe the diocese could save quite a bit of money by not sending priests to Rome or Chicago for advanced studies for a couple of years until things pick up economically. I'm not denying the value of continuing education, but some of the expenses of the diocese may not be immediately necessary. In a recent parish financial disclosure, the monthly rectory expense for 2 priests exceeded my home expenses for a family of 4-and the rectory has no mortgage. I'm not trying to be disrespectful toward you, but it seems the bishop and some of our priests have forgotten how difficult things can be for the families of their parishes. I give to God first, and volunteer at my church as well, send my kids to Catholic schools, and give to charities, but it's getting frustrating, especially when there seem to be bigger deficits in diocesan budgets every year. Our cathedratcum has increased drastically, and our school assesment has too. If people are leaving the church, all of the burden is falling on fewer parishioners. Maybe the Church would be better served by trying to find out why people are leaving, see if the reasons can be changed without sacrificing doctrine, and then we could fill the churches, schools and seminaries, and the church coffers too.

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Tom, 06/23/09 01:40

The assessment records of Avalon, Cape May County N.J., reveal that the ocean front property at 4660 Dune Dr. is deeded to an Edward P. Cullen (no title) with a value of $1.36 million. The tax bill is sent to 2920 Chew St., Allentown, Pa. This is the residence of the Bishop of the Diocese of Allentown, the Most Reverend Edward P. Cullen. The assessment records of Stone Harbor, Cape May County, N.J. reveal that Unit 201, Golden Shores Condominiums, 8001 Second Ave. is deeded to an Edward Cullen (no title) with a value of $600,000, and the tax bills are sent to 4660 Dune Dr. Avalon. The assessment records of Lehigh County show that a property at 3853 Larkspur Dr. Allentown, is deeded to a Most Reverend Edward P. Cullen, with a value of $390,000, and tax bills are sent to P.O. Box F, Allentown, Pa., the address of the Chancery of the Diocese of Allentown.

This raises a serious question. We know by public records the salary of a city mayor, a governor of a state and the president of the United States. But we are not privy to the salary of a bishop whose funds are derived from contributions of parishioners.

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2nd collection ???, 06/23/09 01:30

Diocese of Scranton adds collection to boost priests' benefits

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