Vigil at St. Agnes Cathedral on February 7, 2010 at 10:00 a.m.

Newspaper Headline:  1,500 Workers in L.I. Diocese Will Receive Buyout Offers  (NY Times, 1/26/10)

As reported in the NY Times on 1/26/10, “the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre plans to offer buyouts to 1,500 of its 6,000 employees next month as part of a cost-cutting plan to save its schools and parishes amid stagnant revenue and rising demand for charitable services.”

It was also reported that the diocese’s Chief Operating Office, Charles Trunz, said that, “Clearly what we have tried to do is make it possible for the diocese to accumulate a surplus, so that we can keep our schools and parishes open.”  

“Tried” to accumulate a diocesan surplus? Really?

On 8/4/08, Richard Grafer, an independent account, reported in Newsday that the diocese had a surplus of $268 million!  Is it possible or even likely that the surplus has significantly disappeared?

Regarding the buyouts, Mr. Trunz also said, "The beauty about this program is that any of our people can come back as volunteers…There are many, many opportunities to volunteer and help our church."

While VOTF supports volunteerism in the Church – indeed, most of our members are volunteers in their parishes – we can’t help but wonder:  If you accepted a buyout from your job that will last from 6 to 9 months in the current economic climate, what are the odds that you’d be looking for volunteer work?

Please join us as we ask the diocese:

-Are these cuts really necessary?

-What happened to the surplus?

-Do they really think that people working for wages can afford to work for nothing?

-Has a plan for the possible liquidation of diocesan holdings – such as property – been considered, rather than the loss of jobs?

-Does the diocese believe that greater openness regarding the use of money donated by the laity is needed?

Please join us on Sunday February 7 at St. Agnes Cathedral as we pray together, distribute information about your diocese and your church that you won’t find in the pages of the Long Island Catholic, and ask the tough questions.

Please wear red!

For additional information, please call 631/882-6883.

www.votf-li.org

Directions to St. Agnes Cathedral: Eastbound or Westbound: Southern State Parkway to Exit 19 S (Peninsula Blvd.) Exit parkway and bear left on Peninsula Blvd. to second light to go onto N north Village Avenue. Proceed on North Village into Rockville Centre, and make left turn onto Quealy Place. Parking is available across from the cathedral.

What We Believe

• We are faithful Catholics in communion with the universal Catholic Church.
• We love and support our Church and believe what it professes. We do NOT advocate for any change in either dogma or doctrine. Our goals concern governance issues and governance issues only.
• We accept the teaching authority of our Church, including the traditional role of the bishops and the Pope.
• We will work with our bishops, clergy, and other members to strengthen unity and human moral integrity in our Church.
• We believe that the laity has the graced dignity, intelligence, responsibility and obligation to cooperate in Church governance in a meaningful way according to the norms of Canon law, in order to correct the profound flaws that have been revealed in the human institutional life of our church
• We believe that sexual abuse by clergy and the response of bishops, protecting abusers and forsaking the abused, have caused great human suffering and damaged the moral authority of the Church.
• We believe that the council documents of Vatican II illuminate the pathway for lay involvement in the Church.
• We urge that the openness and mutual respect advocated by Pope John Paul II in Ut Unum Sint (“That All May Be One”) and the teachings of Vatican II be the model for meaningful dialog among bishops and laity.