Laity’s financial expertise needed

by Letters Editor · August 14, 2014

From Mervyn Pollitt, Waterfall, KZN

Your front-page report �SA bishops to discuss future of the Church� (July 30) states that, among other matters, the bishops have on their agenda the fact that �there is no money�.

“Parish priests have a role to play in being prepared to talk finance from the pulpit, something too many have been reluctant to do.” (Graphic: The Southern Cross)

This is a crisis that thinking lay Catholics in South Africa have been warning about for years.

Pope Francis has urged the bishops and clergy to get closer to �their flock� such that they �smell like their sheep�. In this regard I offer the following thoughts for the bishops to consider.

In early 2011 the bishops launched the Bishops� Trust. Their target was to raise R50 million to be invested to fund the local Church in the future.

In the parish that I attended at the time, Fr Brian Reed delivered a excellent homily appealing for funds for the trust. I responded and received a fine letter of thanks and receipt from the SACBC. There was no follow-up whatsoever, however.

Three months ago I enquired from the SACBC for details of the trust and learnt that the trustees are the five metropolitan archbishops with no lay representation. The trust has to date collected only R14,15 million � less than a third of its target.

Further, the funds have been invested with a number of investment managers, of whom only one is recognised as being in the top four investment houses in South Africa. Surely it is now time for the bishops to relaunch the trust. To do this they need to appoint lay trustees with knowledge and experience of marketing and finance. Such persons exist within the ranks of the laity in South Africa.

If Pope Francis could launch a new finance department in the Vatican with 50% lay representation, then surely the bishops of this country can follow this example? The target of R50 million is not beyond the Catholics of this country.

Let us now turn to diocesan finances. Our bishops must realise that here too a problem exists.

The practice in many dioceses, whereby the bishop taxes parishes without any discussion or negotiation, must cease. It is high time that bishops find and appoint competent financial advisers who can assist the bishops in assessing the needs of their dioceses. Once these needs are prioritised then negotiations with individual parish finance committees can begin.

Parish priests have a role to play in being prepared to talk finance from the pulpit, something too many have been reluctant to do.

In the past the laity was expected to �pray, pay and obey�. This is no longer acceptable to younger lay Catholics. Research that I have carried out reveals that only about 30% of registered parishioners contribute regularly to their parish. The majority of these contributors are older persons who will no longer be alive in 10-15 years from now.

Younger Catholics take the view that if they hear nothing about finance, then all must be well. This is no longer acceptable. Younger Catholics are the ones the Church is neglecting and who feel alienated. They need to be shown that they are important and that their needs and views are listened to.

Latest news is that the bishops� conference is thinking of establishing a new laity council. This is long overdue and one hopes that the bishops would at last get closer to the laity and �smell like the sheep� by listening to their concerns, views and advice on matters of which the bishops have little knowledge or experience.

As a lifelong Catholic in my twilight years, I urge the bishops of Southern Africa to give serious consideration to what I have stated above. Let us all make a fresh start, to speak and listen to each other � laity and clergy.