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Finance - Church, Diocese and Parish
Topic Started: Monday, 16. October 2006, 23:34 (2,326 Views)
Penfold
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Just a link to the parish of the priest whose blog is the source of the article offered by Rose.

https://sites.google.com/site/tollingtonpark/home

https://sites.google.com/site/tollingtonpark/parish-priest-s-page

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Rose of York
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David Walter is parish priest of St Mellitus, Tollington Park, London.
http://davidawalter.blogspot.co.uk/

Quote:
 
Jul 25
YOU KNOW IT'S GOOD FOR YOU - MORE MONEY STUFF
It looks as if there may have been glitches in the piously named push for cash. (They sold relics in the middle ages, didn't they?) Another shot from Archbishop's House, approved by the Archbishop's Council and the "Growing in Faith" Campaign Committee, plugging the financial benefits to the parishes themselves and exhorting us to find something which needs money. Bean-counters' jargon abounds: "Consider a fundamental part of parish life that requires long-term investment." "Consider a combination of capital improvement and investment in people." Hire people, in other words. That should motivate us when the Campaign Committee come for us, although the prime purpose of the campaign is to provide funds for the diocese


What's all that about? In the middle of a huge financial crisis, perhaps the parishes can do their bit to provide employment, albeit of a churchy nature? "Parish personnel who organise and coordinate volunteers, who enable a wide variety of activities to take place successfully etc." Or "train and support a person to work with young people or on adult formation or family support" [sic]. Parishioners who are scraping the barrel to survive ought to be thrilled to see their parishes looking for something or someone to spend money on.


"Feed my sheep," Our Lord said to Peter after the resurrection. Not "Fleece my sheep." St Augustine in the 4th century went to town on this theme, a long sermon in the breviary which the clergy have to read over weeks every year.


The real trouble isn't just the money stuff. It's the management mentality taking over from the pastoral. It has crept into parish life already - we have an unpushy secretary who looks after parish records, book-keeping, hall bookings. She has lived around here for years, knows people, is wonderful on the phone and with people at the door - the really important human stuff. But when her appointment was being discussed, "secretary" was not enough. To be a serious parish, we should have an "administrator." If she had been asked her to sign up for that she would have run a mile.


The same management mindset creeps into discussions about youth work or catechetics. "We need to hire someone." Looking for volunteers rather than employees? Meanness and amateurism. Employees for pastoral work are assumed to be better qualified than volunteers although in reality (hiring people is sometimes necessary) they don't know the parish and they have their personal baggage and assumptions.

Parish management like that is a cop-out. Gone the slog of teams of parishioners working together (which is how parishes came into being in the first place - so old hat). Gone the sense of personal obligation and service (Gospel values, before the Bible got replaced by "centering" and me-me-me religion). In with smart websites of St Jude's plc.


So the diocese as a plc is a shoo-in. Now we have a diocesan CARITAS: never mind the work of parish groups (not that the parishes were asked about it anyway). The finance office, already heavy with 17 people slogging away to keep us in line with the small print of the charity commission legislation, is now taking on a director (£25-£35k pa) for the Gift of Faith scam (sorry, campaign). Getting the message across, which by any definition is the responsibility of the bishop, comes under an Agency for Evangelisation (8 staff) which produces glossy booklets, with no apparent means of "assessing the product."


Blow me, it's hardly bearable. A church that lives by management, dies by management.
Keep the Faith!

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Ned

Penfold
Friday, 27. July 2012, 10:16
Just a link to the parish of the priest whose blog is the source of the article offered by Rose.

https://sites.google.com/site/tollingtonpark/home

https://sites.google.com/site/tollingtonpark/parish-priest-s-page

Yes, https://sites.google.com/site/tollingtonpark/home is the parish website.

But https://sites.google.com/site/tollingtonpark/parish-priest-s-page seems to have been the blog of the previous PP. There's a note at the top of it, "As it is unsuitable to use the parish website as a personal soap-box, the current parish priest has opened a blog ... (3rd March 2012)"

At least one item at https://sites.google.com/site/tollingtonpark/parish-priest-s-page might be controversial, so it's important to make that clear.

Regards

Ned
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Rose of York
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Ned
Friday, 27. July 2012, 15:13
Yes, https://sites.google.com/site/tollingtonpark/home is the parish website.

But https://sites.google.com/site/tollingtonpark/parish-priest-s-page seems to have been the blog of the previous PP. There's a note at the top of it, "As it is unsuitable to use the parish website as a personal soap-box, the current parish priest has opened a blog ... (3rd March 2012)"

At least one item at https://sites.google.com/site/tollingtonpark/parish-priest-s-page might be controversial, so it's important to make that clear.
https://sites.google.com/site/tollingtonpark/contact

Contact page of St Mellitus parish website gives information about the parish priest. His name is David Ardagh-Walter

Ned
Friday, 27. July 2012, 15:13
But https://sites.google.com/site/tollingtonpark/parish-priest-s-page seems to have been the blog of the previous PP. There's a note at the top of it, "As it is unsuitable to use the parish website as a personal soap-box, the current parish priest has opened a blog ... (3rd March 2012)"

At least one item at https://sites.google.com/site/tollingtonpark/parish-priest-s-page might be controversial, so it's important to make that clear.


The blogger and the current parish priest are one and the same person, David Walter. I take it he has the courtesy to use the parish website for parish purposes and his blog for his personal opinions.

The link to the personal blog is David Walter's Blog

Keep the Faith!

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Anne-Marie

This entry in the (former?) PPs blog I just love:

WESTMINSTER PLC AGAIN

At this time of year it’s traditional for the clergy to have a rant against materialism: which sounds like sour grapes. This year the anti-materialism card is unplayable as the diocese has bought into a fundraising scheme. It was first put to the clergy in (I think) April. We now hear that the American-based campaign is entitled Growing in Faith. Fundraising is fine provided we’re straight about it but religious icing on the financial cake leaves a nasty taste in the mouth.

There is a Canadian fundraising scheme called Growing in Faith Together (GIFT), which may or may not be the same thing. Canada has its own problems but here we have disillusionment from the saga of abusive clergy and inept bishops, the refusal (against canon law) of bishops to consult the laity, the rise of half-baked reactionaries who don't understand, let alone accept, the authority of the last council of the Church, and all we have to offer is a pompous translation of the Mass and a drive for fund-raisers. Well might we rant against materialism, starting with that of our diocesan curias.
Anne-Marie
FIAT VOLUNTAS DEI
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Rose of York
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Father David Walters post dated 19 July is the one that led me to raise the issue on the forum. He says clergy are instructed to identify and visit the biggest givers in the parish and ask them to make a five year commitment. He further complains that it leads to lack of confidentiality because "For decades parishioners using planned giving were guaranteed anonymity. Every parish had someone who kept these records, but a big part of the scheme was that the parish priest would not be able to see how much each person gave. That was reserved to the co-ordinator. That protection is now to be abandoned." Father Walters claims that in a presentation for the scheme, people who do not attend Mass were identified as suitable targets for Planned Giving.
Keep the Faith!

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Derekap
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I fear the scheme is more concerned with the financial circumstances than the spiritual circumstances of parishioners! Fr David Walter quoted someone when he wrote: 'Pray, pay and obey'. In this case I would say 'Pay, obey and then, if you feel like it, pray'

(Fr David Walter seems to be very openly critically on many Church topics)
Derekap
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Anne-Marie

Derekap
Sunday, 29. July 2012, 18:00
Fr David Walter seems to be very openly critically on many Church topics
Could that be why he's no longer PP there???
Anne-Marie
FIAT VOLUNTAS DEI
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Penfold
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Anne-Marie
Sunday, 29. July 2012, 20:15
Derekap
Sunday, 29. July 2012, 18:00
Fr David Walter seems to be very openly critically on many Church topics
Could that be why he's no longer PP there???
he is still listed as PP on the Diocesan web site.
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Rose of York
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Anne-Marie
Sunday, 29. July 2012, 20:15
Derekap
Sunday, 29. July 2012, 18:00
Fr David Walter seems to be very openly critically on many Church topics
Could that be why he's no longer PP there???
On the parish website the contact information and this week's newsletter name Father Walter as parish priest. He is still there.
Keep the Faith!

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