The Diocese of Niagara had its synod on Friday and Saturday; the budget was contentious – so contentious that it was not passed and is no longer on the diocesan web site.
The budget called for a 32% cut to St. Matthews House and a 33% cut to campus ministry. Apparently, “there is no money in the budget beyond salaries. In 6 weeks a third of our total revenue will disappear. We will not be able to pay salaries in 6 weeks.” Note: I have had some clarification of this statement from someone who was at synod and the “salaries” that are being referred to are those of the people working on the university campus, not of people working for the diocese itself; I am cancelling the party and putting the champagne away – for the moment.
The budget was sent back to the budget finance subcommittee and a synod will be held no later than March 31st 2010 to vote on the new budget; assuming the budget finance committee is still employed at that point. I am reassured to see that Michael Bird has not volunteered a cut to his $105k per year salary; after all, you have to pay if you want the best.
As Bishop Michael Bird pointed out, this is called “Living the Vision” (he really did – look near the bottom here).
And yet they can afford lawyers. Interesting.
The DMM rate is 32% plus. Does this mean a third of a parish’s budget goes to the diocese? How do these parishes manage to exist never mind do outreach or anything beyond just keeping a roof over their heads and the furnace going?
Before we left our payment to the dio was 46,000 a year. A lot for a small congregation.