Lower Mass attendance brings parish deficits in Chicago

Published: 2003-12-30

CHICAGO (CNS) -- Despite higher donations per person, fewer people in the pews translated into less money for parishes during the past year, said the Chicago archdiocesan annual report. The report, for the 2003 fiscal year ending June 30, said increasing pension and insurance obligations also created a deficit in the archdiocesan Pastoral Center budget. The report was published Dec. 21 in The Catholic New World, Chicago archdiocesan newspaper. The annual October count of people attending Mass showed that attendance was down 5.9 percent last year, said Thomas Brennan, the archdiocesan director of finance. That led to a 2.9 percent decrease in parish revenue and an overall operating deficit for parishes of $36 million, he said. Parishes had a combined operating surplus of $21.8 million the previous fiscal year. "The contributions, such as those received on Sundays, holy days, Christmas and Easter, represent the largest source of parish revenue, and they grew on a per-person basis of 4.8 percent in fiscal year 2003," Brennan said, but it was not enough to offset the declining number of contributors.

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