Up in alms over salaries
Church asks for more as top Catholic administrators see pay spike

With the Archdiocese of Boston in the middle of its 2012 Catholic Appeal fundraiser, the number of church employees earning upward of $150,000 has skyrocketed by more than threefold even as the church has been shuttering parishes, a Herald review found.

In 2006, the archdiocese listed only five employees earning more than $150,000, but its latest annual report shows 17 “senior lay executives” topped $150,000 last year. Among the latest eye-popping salaries and fiscal details the review found:

• Total compensation for Mary Grassa O’Neill, superintendent of the archdiocese’s Catholic schools, last year topped $351,000, surpassing the $323,222 earnings of Boston Superintendent of Schools Carol R. Johnson.

• The top archdiocesan lawyer totaled $326,169.

• The recently departed chancellor, the archdiocese’s top financial officer, grossed $276,486.

• Since 2006, the archdiocese has cut 50 staff members but payroll costs increased by nearly $1 million.

• Cardinal Sean O’Malley earned only $41,500, plus $14,400 in non-taxable compensation. Most priests on archdiocesan governing councils earn similar amounts.

Link