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November 12, 2008 Archbishop John C. Favalora Archbishop Favalora: CONGRATULATIONS ON THE ARCHDIOCESE of MIAMI’s JUBILEE YEAR ! We wish to add our good wishes to the many that have been bestowed to the Archdiocese of Miami upon completion of its Jubilee year and the 50th anniversary celebration. RECENT EVENTS Spirited Lay Action Movement will continue to monitor the financial and pastoral activities of the Archdiocese as best we can, and we encourage complete transparency and accountability. We are well aware of the improvement made in accounting reporting systems and the increased effort in auditing individual Parishes. We applaud these efforts. As all the assets of the Archdiocese initially are derived from Parishioners, we encourage that these programs be carried out in an even-handed manner and not discriminate against those entities most dependent on others to carry out their ministries. We continue to have concerns about the Archdiocese’s overall financial health. Continuing legal settlements, the economic downturn, and loss of value in investment accounts have most probably exacerbated a situation which, in the past, caused us to wonder if the Archdiocese’s bankruptcy was imminent. In the recent past, the Pastoral Center has initiated layoffs and embarked on a refinancing campaign with Parishes to collect outstanding indebtedness. The Archdiocese of Miami claims that there are many Parishes that have incurred substantial debts to the Archdiocese throughout the years. Claiming to be acting as “good stewards,” the Archdiocese has told Parishes to utilize savings and/or arrange “third party loans” to bring this indebtedness current. In the case of the many Parishes which may have chosen to place a lower priority on paying these assessments or other working capital liabilities, the procedure seems to be a good business practice. For those Parishes without savings and who are unable to obtain financing on their own, the Archdiocese is in the process of obtaining bank loans for these debts. Officials at the Archdiocese of Miami are requiring Parish priests to execute documents acknowledging these outstanding debts. Canon Law requires that the finance councils of the Parishes be consulted in advance and we would hope that this is happening. Parishes who have existed with the Pastoral Center’s financial support in the past, and most realistically will continue to need this financial support in the future, can easily be pressured into signing documents. Knowing that some Parishes are not financially capable to pay off these loans, only time will tell what happens when these loans do not get repaid. Presumably, this will not occur until after the architects of this plan have already retired. PROCLAIM A TRUE JUBILEE Perhaps you will consider the teachings of scripture and specifically the meaning of the Sabbatical year and the Jubilee. According to Scripture, every seventh year the land had to be left untilled and unplanted, and the debts from close neighbors unpaid during the previous six years were to be cancelled. (please see Exodus 21:2-6, Exodus 23:10-11, Leviticus 25: 1-7, and Deuteronomy 15: 1-11, 12-18). The requirements of the Jubilee were similar to the Sabbatical years, but it also required the restoration of the ancestral lands to the families who lost these lands and the emancipation of Israelite indentured servants whose terms of servitude had not yet expired. (See Leviticus 25:8-17). Pope John Paul ll wrote in his apostolic Letter Tertio Millennio Adventiente for the Grand Jubilee year of 2000: “A Jubilee is always an occasion of special grace, a day blessed by the Lord.” May you continue our Archdiocese’s Jubilee year with great success and carry the Spirit into the future. May you cancel the long term outstanding debts of all marginalized Parishes celebrating their own Jubilee year in the recent past or future years and free Parishioners from the enslavement of a debt that cannot be reasonably repaid. Let the Spirit bless you on being a “Good Steward” and the “Good Shepherd” envisioned by Jesus. With Prayers and In Peace, John-Campbell Barmmer
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