Wilton Gregory Dealing With Multi-Million Dollar Deficit

In a bid to fill a multi-million dollar annual operating deficit, the Archdiocese of Washington has announced a sweeping reform of its parish assessment system which would make all donations and parish income, even previously restricted gifts and grants, liable to diocesan taxation.
While several Washington priests say the archdiocesan CFO has said in deanery presentations that the extent of the archdiocesan deficit had been previously obscured by “selective presentation” of archdiocesan finances, a spokesperson told
According to an Oct. 31 letter from Cardinal Wilton Gregory to pastors, the changes to parish assessments — the canonical tax levied by the diocese on parish income — are necessary because the current system has gone unchanged for more than three decades and “failed to keep pace with the increased costs of operating the Pastoral Center.”
The new system will be “more equitable, particularly for the parishes in the lower half of revenue,” while raising some $3 million in …