Closing church not a solution

To the Editor,

At the conclusion of the fiscal year of 2013, the pastor of St. Francis Parish in Nesquehoning issued a financial summary comparing the previous fiscal year to the current year.

It was surprising to see this since it was the only time in my 43 years as a parishioner that anything concerning finances was put on paper for all the parishioners to see. I considered it precious enough to save it.

The first item showed for the previous year the income to our church was $218,612. The current year showed income of $236,705. That's an increase of about 9 percent.

In my opinion, our parishioners are pretty fair in supporting their church. The last item showed our parish in debt, $393,000, in debt. I believe the entire parish was shocked, how could a debt reach such a level? It begs to wonder when and how did this begin. Why was this not brought to our attention sooner? What will be done moving forward? Any details concerning finances passed among parishioners were only rumors since finances seem to be a secret.

The rumors were the Our Lady of the Angels school subsidies were either not getting paid or drastically cut, as well as diocesan assessments, even insurance premium due the diocese were going unpaid. Do think that made Bishop Barres a little unhappy with St. Francis Parish?

So finally the bishop pulled the trigger and put us out of his misery. The debt in the last couple years as reported by our new parish is very close or has already exceeded $500,000.

The bishop's decree shows closing our church due to financial problems. So he's laying the debt on members when we have no knowledge or say on how money was spent. Let me also say our church, hall, and rectory are all in excellent condition.

The bishop should have looked at the parishioners as a solution instead of the problem. He got it exactly reversed when he was looking for the right answer.

Please remember why we belong to a church.

James J Sauka

Nesquehoning