Chicago Archdiocese trimming staff (40 chancery staff laid off)

[stumbler]

May 27, 2005

BY SHAMUS TOOMEY
Chicago Sun-Times Staff Reporter

For the first time in 14 years, the Archdiocese of Chicago is laying off workers at its downtown headquarters as it fights to close an ongoing, multimillion-dollar budget deficit.

Church officials said Thursday that 40 positions will be cut by July at the pastoral center on East Superior, which is home to about 600 employees. Some of the jobs will be erased through early retirements and attrition, but the remainder will be layoffs, officials said.

It’s all part of the ongoing struggle facing the local Catholic church, which has had to ship millions of dollars to struggling parishes to keep them afloat, depleting the budget of its pastoral center. . . .

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Full article

 

[stbruno]

Personally, I think the diocese could be saving a bundle, if they move the chancery office to a less pricey neighborhood and sell the building or lease it out to a company willing to pay the going commercial rents. If you have ever gone down to this office, the parking is deplorable, and not practical for someone who needs to utilize this office. It probably could save people’s job as a result and make the individual parish assessments go down as well. Which most parishes are struggling to meet. 1/4 of our parish’s budget goes downtown, and with our declining Sunday collections and income, this has hurt us so much that we are now in the red.