Prophet, not profit

Yes, there is concern over the finances of the Archdiocese of Chicago. There’s been concern for years. No, it’s not a crisis—at least not that there is a looming financial collapse.
No matter what the news on TV might seem.

I’m not trying to sound like an apologist for the archdiocese, though that would be a role for its newspaper. An “explainer,” perhaps; an apologist is more properly concerned with theology.

Finances aren’t theology.

Cardinal George also deals in his column with the fallout of a televised news story more than a week ago which would have put the archdiocese on the same plane as a dot.com on the verge of going belly-up.

In a sentence: more outgo than income, a situation generous Catholics have opportunities to change, especially with the upcoming Millennium Campaign.

All of which belies a point the cardinal makes pretty clear: The archdiocese isn’t a dot.com. Or any other sort of company.

As I stood in the back of the room Oct. 5 watching chief financial officer Tom Brennan answer questions about the archdiocese’s situation, I was more stuck by the last paragraph of a statement handed out to reporters. (By the way, last paragraphs usually end up left out of news stories. I know; once upon a time I was a reporter.)

The paragraph alluded to a most under-appreciated reality: non-profit.

"The archdiocese is not a profit-making corporation. It is a church, a religious organization whose mission it is to evangelize, preach, teach and form a religious community around the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

That’s under-appreciated, often by those who are part of the mission, because we forget its basic truth. Our schools, our parishes, our institutions and agencies are not P&L sheets but ministries whose task it is to proclaim the presence of our faith in the community where we live.

Schools, parishes, institutions—even The Catholic New World—are evangelizers.

Yes, like the others, New World Publications hews to a budget (even Jesus’ disciples had a treasurer); but the focus continues to be on proclaiming the Gospel, not on the cost of doing so.

—Tom Sheridan,
Editor and General Manager