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Committee service can also serve as an appropriate means to vet leadership for the Council. Action Step 3.10 Analyze and evaluate the parish assessment (cathedraticum). Action Step 2.1 Integrate billing and accounts receivables platforms of the Chancery Finance Office. While guidelines have been published in print, they are distributed only to Pastors and are not widely shared. Before this step can be accomplished, an intranet must be created for the secure sharing of this information.
- The goal is to develop similar tools, with training, for the parishes beginning in FY20.
- After Connolly retired in 1970, Pope Paul VI appointed Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Cronin of the Archdiocese of Boston as the fifth bishop of Fall River.
- The Parish Finance Council Guidelines for the Diocese of Fall River stipulate that all parishes are required to provide a copy of their annual report to the Bishop.
- As described in Appendix A, the Voice of the Faithful describes a number of requirements for transparency.
- Action Step 3.4 Conduct financial reviews of all parishes, schools, and agencies on a regular and recurring basis.
- The mother church of the diocese is St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River.
Last month, after months of preparation and planning, the Diocese launched a new website featuring new branding that better depicts the mission, location, and heart of our Fall River Diocese. The website is a digital hub offering easy-to-locate links to evangelization resources, parish and school directories, daily readings, and upcoming events. Visitors can quickly access information on our diocesan offices, ministries, and agencies through various organized menu options.
Read our detailed Finance and Administration Recommendations and Goals
The assessment, including its means of apportionment and administration, should be analyzed and recommendations made for the future. Action Step 3.5 Develop budget and reporting tools for parishes including a template for annual reports. Action Step 3.4 Conduct financial reviews of all parishes, schools, and agencies on a regular and recurring basis. Action Step 3.2 Introduce accrual accounting to parishes and schools.
- There is a need for greater lay engagement and oversight at all levels of the Church.
- These business functions include payroll, cash management, and select accounting activities.
- Action Step 3.7 Integrate Diocesan schools business functions into the Chancery operations.
- Visitors can quickly access information on our diocesan offices, ministries, and agencies through various organized menu options.
- This integration will include medical insurance, dental insurance, property insurance, clergy and frozen lay pension, parish assessments, etc.
While the Diocese recently introduced some automation, the cash application process is still manual and disconnected. Parishes and schools still have issues with collections and payments; and the Chancery needs to continue to provide instruction for properly submitting payments. At the diocesan level there was no audit, investment, or central school committees. Central oversight and support for planning processes was lacking. There was no regular program for providing parishes, schools, and other entities guidelines or support for planning processes.
Parish Financial Reports
Action Step 2.2 Expand oversight of diocesan ministries receiving Catholic Charity Appeal funds, including creating and reviewing budgets and financial plans. Once budgets are implemented, actual results must be compared to budget. Significant variances (both good and bad) will need to be explained by the ministries. Such financial controls include the storage, analysis, management, and processing of financial transactions, records, and processes. In order to implement these controls, the Chancery must have appropriate staffing levels to assure proper oversight and management.
The Diocese currently has 80 parishes, 20 schools, and roughly 20 related agencies. The immediate goal is to conduct ten reviews this year, expanding to 25 audits per year by FY23. Every parish, school, and agency should be audited once every four years. This will require the hiring of two additional auditors as illustrated in the Organization Chart.
Other diocesan priests who became bishops
As they consolidate and streamline their administrations, further consideration should be given partial consolidation of all parishes, whether linked or not. The potential exists for creating clusters of up to ten parishes, and providing a central business manager for each, overseeing accounting, payroll, and purchasing. Current centralized Diocesan purchasing programs include SOLAR leasing agreements, gas and electric supply RFPs (Requests For Proposals), and similar voice services RFPs. The Chancery initiated several purchasing initiatives in 2018, including a SOLAR lease agreement for four large systems; RFPs for over 30 parishes and schools for gas and electric supply, and 12 locations for voice services.
In FY19 the Diocese provided a “self-service” budgeting tool to schools – a template enabling them to construct budgets on their own. The goal is to develop similar tools, with training, for the parishes beginning in FY20. Included in this “tool box” will be a summary report template that parishes can use for producing annual reports and a common budget calendar. While it is recognized that the Church is the Church and not a business, BooksTime Empowers Diocese of Fall River’s Financial Evolution it does not excuse us from being disciplined and organized about our finances and human resources management. There exists a struggle between central and decentralized control – a great deal falls between the cracks and is left to interpretation, creating cynicism and resentment. The Chancery is perceived as a big black hole into which money flows and from which nothing is provided in services or support to the parishes.