All Priests, please help

[031064]

I was just wondering if any of you could give me the statistics for how your church divides their money (ie.- to the poor, to the chruch, to rome etc) thanks. my parents just won’t stop telling me how the chruhcis some sort of greety pig etc, i need to be able to say that it does donate tons of money to the poor and to legitimately good causes. thank you friends of Christ.

 

[Meggie]

Each year many parishes display the exact budget in their bullitian. You could probaly get local parishes to give you a copy…although I don’t know how much that would really help an unbeliever besides throwing something at them that they probably don’t value.

 

[Church_Militant]

From today’s Zenit news releases:

Vatican Finances Continue in the Black
Budget Balances for 3rd Consecutive Year

VATICAN CITY, JULY 3, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The Holy See’s consolidated financial statement for the fiscal year 2006 closed with a profit, marking the third consecutive year of operating in the black.

This year’s profit of €2.4 million ($3.3 million) is down from 2005’s €9.7 million profit.

The news was released in a communiqué from the Council of Cardinals for the Study of Organizational and Economic Questions of the Apostolic See, which met in the Vatican on Monday.

Cardinal Sergio Sebastiani, president of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See, presented the consolidated financial statement of 2006 for the Holy See, which outlined the income totaling €227,815,031 and expenses totaling €225,409,716, with a surplus of €2,405,315.

“The expenses are due in major part to the ordinary and extraordinary expenses of the dicasteries and organizations of the Holy See, that, each in its own right, help the Holy Father in caring for the universal Church,” explained the statement.

“The aforementioned organizations employ 2,704 people, of whom 773 are ecclesiastics, 331 are religious and 1,600 are lay,” it added.

Cardinal Sebastiani also reported on the 2006 budget of Vatican City State, which is in charge of the territory and activities to support the Holy See, including the caretaking of the artistic heritage found in the Vatican Museums.

According to the statement, Vatican City State closed with a surplus of €21,849,155 in 2006.

Employees of Vatican City State total 1,693.

The statement reports pension funds for Vatican personnel paying out €15 million in 2006.

“During the examination of the budget – which includes exhaustive verifications and certifications – the cardinals considered the informative and pastoral relevance of the means of social communication of the Vatican, including Vatican Radio, Vatican Television Center, L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican press office, Internet, etc. … These instruments, in order to stay in step with the times, need noticeable financial resources and continual technological innovations,” the Vatican statement reported.

The statement reported that individual dioceses contributed €24,081,560.

On July 6, there will be a press conference with Cardinal Sebastiani.

There’s a start for you.