PROBLEMS FACING THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN AMERICA:

Sarah,

As you may have heard, the Catholic Church in America is facing some problems.  Last week the Economist detailed some of the challenges facing the church.  Here is a quick history and a summary of the church’s problems:

Quick History:

Our founding fathers were Protestant and the Catholic population in revolutionary America was small.  Then it grew:

-In 1803, America executed the Louisiana Purchase and received 828,000 square miles (15 states) from France.  Because France was a Catholic country, many residents of France’s American colonies were Catholic.

-In 1819, America bought/ stole Florida from Spain.  Because Spain was a Catholic country, many residents of Florida were Catholic.

- In 1845, America demolished Mexico in a war and scooped up all of the Western United States for a paltry $18 million.  Because Mexico was a Catholic country, many of the area’s residents were Catholic.

-In the late-1800’s a wave of European migration brought hundreds of thousands of Catholics into America from places like Ireland and Italy.

-Since then, a solid stream of migrants from Latin America has held the proportion of Catholics in America steady.

Background:

The first thing to know about the Catholic Church in America is that it’s enormous.  Over 74 million Americans identify themselves at Catholics, making America’s Catholic Church the fourth biggest behind Mexico, the Philippines, and Brazil.  That also means about one in four Americans are Catholic. 

If you add up all the Catholic institutions in our country, they employ around one million people.  This makes the Church one of the largest employers in the country.  11 percent of America’s hospitals are Catholic and 5 percent of all private schools are Catholic.  Further, 25 out of the 100 top ranked American hospitals are Catholic. 

The church is also one of the country’s largest landowners.  Even in a secular and expensive place like Manhattan, the church is thought to own more property than any other entity in the city.

The church is also the country’s largest charity and disbursed more than $4.7 billion last year.

Lastly, the American Catholic Church is the biggest source of income for the Catholic Church internationally.  About 60% of all the Catholic Church’s funds are from America.  Therefore, when the church pays money to touch up the Sistine Chapel, there is a decent chance that money originated in Cincinnati or St. Louis.

Problems:

The Church has a lot of problems.

First, there are lawsuits and there a lot of them.  In recent years, the Catholic Church has spent over $3 billion defending against sexual abuse cases.  The average case costs the church $1 million.  With more states considering dropping the statute of limitations on sex abuse cases, this problem will not be going away.

These lawsuits contribute to the Church’s second problem: it’s broke.  Here are the other reasons the Church is in a financial mess:

-Donations have fallen 20%.  Many people are hesitant to contribute because of recent scandals and competition amongst charities has become increasingly intense. 

-With donations lagging, the church has relied on bond sales to raise money.  This has increased their debt.

-Americans have become less religious in general and this affects donations.

 -The struggling economy has affected charitable contributions generally. 

- The Church faces a labor shortage because fewer Americans are interested in becoming priests or nuns.  This drives up the price of labor because the church has to outsource jobs that were traditionally performed by clergy.

-The finances of the church are mismanaged.  Often clergy, and not trained accountants, handle funds.  Additionally, some creditors claim that the church moves money around it to shield it from litigation costs. 

-There have been several instances of fraud on the part of the clergy.  One priest in Philadelphia embezzled over $900,000.

All this has led to relative chaos in the church’s finances.  8 dioceses have gone bankrupt, including San Diego, Milwaukee, and Tucson.

Bottom Line: I am not religious, but I sincerely hope the church can recover and figure out a way to stop abuse.  Some of America’s best institutions are Catholic and the church provides critical services for thousands of Americans.  I’m hoping that things get better. 

 

Source: The Economist, “Briefing The Catholic Church in America” 8/18/2012