Parish Organization Annual Report: Fill & Download for Free

I do not think I have ever once heard a homily on giving money in a Catholic Church. And I have been actively Catholic for forty years.About once, sometimes twice, a year, however, there is an announcement about the annual fundraising efforts of the parish and the diocese. Sometimes they have members of the parish talk about their giving practices, sometimes members of the pastoral staff talk about the programs and ministries funded by this support, and sometimes members of missions or the diocesan staff talk about their ministries.In well-organized parishes, usually on the same weekend, is a presentation of the parish annual report. Just like any NGO or Non-Profit, donors want to know where their money is being spent and if the staff, including the pastor and bishop, are being responsible stewards of their donations.That being said, I do know priests who are shameless in asking for money, and irresponsible in spending it. These cannot tell that it is not meant as their personal funds, but as belonging to the parish. And I know plenty of lay Catholics who will tolerate all sorts of financial abuse from priests, to a degree they would not from their colleagues or even of the lay ministers employed at the same parish.A couple examples of this “blind spot” we call clericalism:In one parish, where the several lay ministers on staff who all struggled to pay rent, never being able to buy houses on their salaries, the priest was purchased a seven-bedroom, new construction house, by the parishioners, just for him, alone.In another, the priest celebrated his 40th anniversary of priesthood with a new car gifted by the parish, custom detailed with vanity plates. When one of the sisters of the parish celebrated 40 years, she was given a card and some punch and cookies after mass.In neither case did most parishioners express any sense of inconsistency!

It does.Every year, the Vatican Financial Authority releases a report[1] as does the “Vatican Bank”, the IOR.[2] It’s held assets are about 5.6 billion euro. These are mostly the investments of the 2500 religious orders and some of the 3000 dioceses of the Church around the world, particularly those in countries where local banking is difficult, corrupt, or non-existent.That’s about $4.60 per Catholic, so it’s not a lot. It’s also tiny compared to most banks, to say nothing of most countries or corporations. If you checked on the bank where you carry your checking account, chances are high that they have more billions than the Vatican does.Now, if you wanted to add together all the financially independent organizations in the Church, over which the Vatican has no financial control, including dioceses, parishes, religious orders, universities, hospitals, orphanages, leprosaria, etc., I’m sure the value would be truly impressive, even just in terms of land and property. But they are also almost all liabilities. And as independent, it is not as if the pope can be swapping and selling billions of dollars worth of real estate around the world. But because these are not centrally controlled, no one has any central database of all the holdings. There are efforts in that direction, but it is a massive undertaking and the Vatican is honestly not wealthy enough to afford it - it only has an operating budget each year of about $350 million - less than a decent university or modest business.Footnotes[1] Vatican Financial Information Authority releases annual report - Vatican News[2] Annual report 2018

Every established religious organization voluntarily contributes to charitable programs. The Catholic Church is the greatest charitable organization in the world.Sources: IRS Form 990, annual report or statement of individual charities, http://www.guidestar.org, Ministry Watch, Home, Minnesota Attorney General's Office; Chronicle of Philanthropy.The 200 Largest U.S. CharitiesIf you go down and select all of the Catholic organizations the amount is astounding! Adding up just Catholic Charities, Food for the Poor, Catholic Relief Services, St. Jude's, and America's Second Harvest alone total $5,570,000,000, which is greater than #1 on the list for America. Keep going down the list and you find Father Flanagan's homes, Catholic Medical Mission Board, Covenant House, and more. Add the thousands of other charities, from Missionaries to the Poor, Amigos for Christ, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, to religious orders (like Missionaries of Charity) and thousands upon thousands of individual parishes across the globe who often do their work in anonymity, and you will see some of the charitable works of the Catholic Church.The Catholic Church is the LARGEST charitable organization in the world.