By Fr Martin Sirju Archdiocesan Finance Officer

The final session of CADFO 2006 was held at the Apostolic Nunciature. His Excellency, the Most Rev Thomas Gullickson, mixed with everyone prior to his talk and set us at ease with his informality and lighthearted conversations.

One usually expects an Apostolic Nuncio to be more reserved so his style was a welcome change and helped everyone to relax and be themselves. Fr Rochard then introduced each member of CADFO and gave a brief history of our raison d’etre.

The Nuncio began his presentation by talking about “missionary territories”. He said a region is called “missionary” because “it lacks either
(a) personnel or
(b) material resources”.

He mentioned in passing that Cardinal Rossi when he was Prefect of the Congregation of Evangelisation of Peoples took Brazil off the list of mission countries because he felt his country had all the personnel and financial resources necessary to be “Church” in the full sense. This was a bit surprising considering Brazil is still wracked by grinding poverty.

His Excellency considered financial self-management to be basically an organisational matter involving the use of competent lay people who will help manage the Church finances efficiently.

However, this kind of management works well if you have a sufficient amount of funds. What if you don’t? Archbishop Gullickson then gave some statistics: “Of my 18 dioceses (Belize is attached to the Nunciature in El Salvador), seven have achieved or are capable of financial self-reliance today, but no diocese has sufficient personnel resources, hence all are rightly classified as ‘missionary’ territories.”

Hence rather than speak of financial self-reliance regarding the Antilles, His Excellency felt we should speak more of “towards” – moving towards a goal.

He noted the problem of financial self-reliance was not confined to the Antilles but can exist in a wealthy nation like America. He cited the case of Rapid City, South Dakota – a diocese neighbouring his own –  which was increasing in debt each year.

Archbishop Gullickson

The bishop of his Sioux Falls diocese was thinking of redrawing the border of his diocese to include some of the small Rapid City parishes and so save the next-door diocese from debt. In the end the proposal was squashed thanks to casino gambling on Rapid City’s Indian reservations.

His Excellency apparently likes to intersperse his talks with relevant anecdotes, and funny ones too. He cited the case of viewing an archaeological find in the Holy Land some years ago.

This concerned the remains of some little churches in Jordan but there was a puzzling discovery: why a whole sack of coins in the cornerstone? Well, what can I say? The bishops of the Holy Land were very astute men. They required from the benefactors who built the churches a little insurance equivalent to the cost of construction.

The logic was should the church fall down or be destroyed money would be readily available for reconstruction. Archbishop Gullickson teased Msgr Lamontagne from St George’s, saying Grenada would not have been so stricken after Ivan had the builders of its beautiful cathedral followed the Holy Land ecclesial entrepreneurs and put a sack of coins in its foundation.

Returning to the topic of financial self-management, His Excellency said that if a diocese can provide itself with a sufficient number of local priests it is well on the way to financial self-management. However, we are well aware of the problem here today in the western Church.

He urged our small Caribbean dioceses to become more self-reliant by building its financial base through investments, funds, foundations and trusts. He also outlined several problem areas as the Antilles embarks on financial self-reliance.

Firstly, financial self-reliance has meant many dioceses and religious congregations have had to dispense with traditional Catholic undertakings like schools, hospitals and nursing facilities. He asked: “Does financial self–reliance mean a balanced budget at any cost?”

Secondly, since the Antilles region is hurricane-prone that places an extra burden on dioceses regarding financial independence or self-management. These extraordinary expenses caused him to ask: “Is the Antilles forever destined to be missionary i.e. dependent on the rest of the Church for personnel and finances?”

He joked that unlike Rapid City casino gambling is not an option open to us. He also speculated that in time to come tax-free activities that generate income for the parishes like rental of halls, sport centres and retreat houses could be “taxed out of the picture”. We should therefore be grateful to governments that cast a “benevolent eye” on these activities.

Thirdly, available statistics show that the Catholic population in every diocese except Cayenne is smaller than it was twenty years ago. Neither is there any sudden burst of converts in any of the islands. If we combine this with the general Caribbean brain drain - a problem particularly devastating to Guyana and Suriname – then that translates into less income generated from the Church in the Antilles.

His Excellency also pointed out that tourism is “neither labour-intensive enough or lucrative enough to generate other types of employment which would keep people from moving north.”

Finally, the papal legate thought it inimical to the office of a bishop if the majority of his time is spent raising funds for his poor southern diocese in the rich countries of the north. He said there is nothing in the mandate from the Pope that puts this at the core of a bishop’s mission.

In conclusion, His Excellency hinted at a possible way out of the ecclesiastical valley of debt – regional collaboration. He said that the establishment of the Caribbean Court of Appeal and the CSME point to the need for coming together on several levels.

It could very well mean that financial self-reliance has a regional component that we must explore and use to our local and regional advantage. I was quite amused at this observation. Archbishop Gullickson was confirming by his own observation something Fr Rochard recommended at the last CADFO meeting in St Lucia (2004).

Fr Rochard used the same imagery mentioned by His Excellency – the wealthier Churches outside Palestine helping the Mother Church in Jerusalem – as a pattern for regional financial collaboration.

All dioceses of the AEC should therefore become members of CADFO. Once we are aware of our financial strengths and weaknesses, we can put our skills together to create in the long-term financial self-reliance and regional stability.

If we fail to do so not only would pastoral ministry suffer, but priests and full-time lay workers would be hard pressed for funds for medical and pension needs after toiling for many years in their home dioceses.