The answer is quite simple: Catholic churches, especially in the Rochester diocese, have to pay an exorbitant amount of money in diocesan taxes.
See below:
Imagine how many churches we would have been able to keep open (and how many souls might have been saved) had the taxation on our area parishes not been so high. Really… a parish needs to pay $19,300 so that the diocese can indoctrinate its flock with progressive, mind-numbing editorials written by Rev. Richard McBrien and Bishop Clark?
The Rochester faithful would be better off reading Cleansing Fire, which is free of charge and contains news stories that the Courier won’t cover (i.e- N.E. Rochester clustering) or is too slow to get their hands on (i.e- Caton ordination).
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The Catholic? Courier is so lame. Nobody reads it that I know of. The parishes are taxed to keep something going that otherwise would die a very quick death. Let it go or suspend publication until a new bishop takes over.
Do the churches have the option of not subscribing to the Courier? Could they offer the on-line version instead? What stake does the diocese have in the continued publication of this theologically questionable paper? I’m with Choir – suspend publication and save these poor churches some scratch. No one reads it anyway (thank God).
One more thing – $20,000?!?!?! Is this per year? Again, $20,000?!?!? How is this good stewardship?
I agree, there is a lot of old, after the fact news, even on the web site. I believe that the costs to the parish are based on the number of registered families. If it went by church attendance, the Courier would go broke.
Why don’t we openly discuss this with love!? Isn’t the diocese a big tent? Open to all ideas. A loving parish. More rubbish.
Nerina,
Yes, $19,300 is Holy Cross’ annual bill for the Catholic Courier. DOR mails a copy each month to every family registered with the parish.
I don’t know it’s possible to opt out; it would be interesting to find out.
I was told at the annual spx finance meeting a few years ago that it is not possible for parishes to opt out. It is a mandatory DOR tax.
WOW! $19,300? That’s for a medium sized parish. Imagine what it would be for St. Louis church or St. Lawrence? Couple all the money that each parish has to give plus the Contribute More Annually (CMA) the Diocese is making out like bandits. They’re crooks.
It is not possible to opt out but our parish recently went through the records and found 150 registrants who were deceased, had moved, or transferred to other parishes. This will, according to the Diocese, lower our CMA assessment and Courier assessment.