St Louis program trains priests in business, finances

March 12, 2018 CNA Daily News News Briefs 0 Print

St. Louis, Mo., Mar 12, 2018 / 09:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- While the intellectual formation of pastors is dominated by philosophy and theology, their pastoral duties also require something beyond the intellectual and spiritual aspects – a business component.

The Pastoral Leadership Institute has developed a curriculum to train priests in business and an administration skills, enabling pastors to better understand the financial properties of a parish.

Seminaries “have so much other stuff to cover, that they’re required by the diocese to cover, that they frankly don’t have time to cover this very important topic,” said Charles Zech, an economics professors at Villanova University, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Zech, who has studied parochial finances, has noted that there is often little oversight, which lends an opportunity to both embezzlement and error.

“The diocese should be doing ongoing education for both the clergy and the laity not only to prevent embezzlement, but just to prevent people from making honest mistakes,” he said.

The curriculum was developed by the archdiocese’s director of shared accounting, Jerry Amsler, with the help of an assistant professor at Saint Louis University, Neil Jenson.

According to an article by St. Louis Post-Dispatch, priests used to wait 15 years before they become the pastor of a parish, but because of a shortage in priests, men are having to take on the role much sooner.

The program gives pastors practical tutorials to quickly learn the business aspect of parish life. Custom made for priests, the program consists of five online sessions, three in-person sessions, and assignments based on the priest’s own parish financial records.

Currently, the program only includes a financial training, but it looks to expand into marketing, human resources, and other parish operations as well.

Additionally, Amsler expressed hope that more instructors would be hired and the program would be made available to more priest throughout the nation. The program is now paid by the Archdiocese of St. Louis, but he will be presenting the program to the U.S. Diocesan Fiscal Management Conference in September.

If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!

Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.

Related Articles

No Picture
News Briefs

Judge rules asylum seekers cannot be forced to remain in Mexico

April 9, 2019 CNA Daily News 0

San Francisco, Calif., Apr 9, 2019 / 12:30 pm (CNA).- Asylum seekers crossing the southern border may no longer have to return to Mexico while their cases are heard after a federal judge blocked the Department of Homeland Security’s Migrant Protection Protocols.

Judge Richard Seeborg of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled April 9 that Homeland Security’s new protocols, announced in December 2018, did not adequately protect the safety of asylum applicants.

Shortly after the Migrant Protection Protocols were announced, the American Civil Liberties Union and immigration advocacy organizations filed a suit on behalf of 11 people seeking asylum in the United States from Central America.

The suit alleged that preventing the asylum seekers from staying in the United States is a violation of international law regarding humanitarian protections.

The protocols would have kept those seeking asylum in the United States in Mexico while their cases were being decided. Asylum seekers were to remain in Tijuana, near the border with the United States, and would be bussed to San Diego for court appearances.

The policy was intended to prevent asylum seekers from missing court appearances in favor of remaining in the United States illegally.

“Aliens trying to game the system to get into our country illegally will no longer be able to disappear into the United States, where many skip their court dates,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said in December.

“Instead, they will wait for an immigration court decision while they are in Mexico. ‘Catch and release’ will be replaced with ‘catch and return,'” she said.

Nielsen resigned from the Department of Homeland Security on April 7, but remains in post until Wednesday. Her replacement has not yet been announced. Kevin McAleenan, the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, will serve as acting secretary.

Seeborg said that the policy did not properly ensure the safety of asylum applicants while their cases were being decided. The decision does not have immediate effect and the administration has until Friday afternoon to decide if they will appeal.

In November 2018, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration issued a joint statement with the presidents of Catholic Relief Services, Catholic Charities USA and Catholic Legal Immigration Network stating they concern at the Trump administration’s policy about asylum-seekers.

“While our teaching acknowledges the right of each nation to regulate its borders, we find this action deeply concerning,” said the statement.

“It will restrict and slow access to protection for hundreds of children and families fleeing violence in Central America, potentially leaving them in unsafe conditions in Mexico or in indefinite detention situations at the U.S./Mexico border. We reiterate that it is not a crime to seek asylum and this right to seek refuge is codified in our laws and in our values.”

The signatories said they hoped the administration would “seek other solutions” to improve the integrity of the immigration system, as well as protect children and families.

“The Catholic Church will continue to serve, accompany and assist all those who flee persecution, regardless of where they seek such protection and where they are from,” they said.

[…]

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

All comments posted at Catholic World Report are moderated. While vigorous debate is welcome and encouraged, please note that in the interest of maintaining a civilized and helpful level of discussion, comments containing obscene language or personal attacks—or those that are deemed by the editors to be needlessly combative or inflammatory—will not be published. Thank you.


*