Two years ago, the Archdiocese of Washington decided to end the Traditional Latin Mass at Old St. Mary and five other parishes. Like much of the Church, the Archdiocese had been experiencing rapid decline for decades. That decline was exacerbated by the revelation of former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick's sex abuse in the 2018 "Summer of Shame." But through it all, the seven parishes with the TLM were among its most thriving and generous in the Archdiocese.
Cardinal Gregory's decision in 2022 to end the TLM at these parishes and replace it with three "Mass centers," with only Sunday Mass and no parish life, was unbelievable. Particularly stunning was the cancellation of the Latin Mass at Old St. Mary in Chinatown. Old St. Mary had been dying when the TLM was reintroduced with the permission of Cardinal James Hickey in the mid-1980s. The TLM brought the congregation back to life. As noted by former parishioner Kenneth Wolfe, by 2022, the TLM at Old St. Mary accounted for "roughly two-thirds of that parish’s income, 100 percent of the church’s volunteer singers and about 90 percent of its volunteer base." The TLM parishioners were so generous financially that they paid for Old St. Mary's beautiful restoration. Now, as predicted, Old St. Mary's has lost nearly all of its regular Mass attendees since the restrictions.
In 2022, when the ADW was contemplating restrictions, Wolfe noted the Archdiocese's precarious financial position:
Cardinal Gregory’s two predecessors (Cardinals Theodore McCarrick and Donald Wuerl) resigned in disgrace, costing millions of dollars. Sex abuse payouts have been enormous. Pews are nearly empty at many, if not most, Catholic churches in D.C., and the archdiocese is likely on the verge of bankruptcy. According to the financial report released for the most recent fiscal year, parishes ran an operating deficit of $2.3 million in just that one year, and the priests’ retirement benefit trust and medical and care funds have unfunded liabilities of tens of millions of dollars. Contrary to some assumptions, the Archdiocese of Washington is actually quite small, having only double the number of parishes as Virginia’s 70-parish Diocese of Arlington, which makes these large monetary deficits staggering.
Wolfe wondered how, given these challenges, the Archdiocese could contemplate doing something so destructive as cutting the legs out from under its most generous parishes by cancelling the TLM. Fr. De Rosa vigorously protested the cancellation of the Latin Mass at Old St. Mary, but Cardinal Gregory ignored his pleas.
A new report in The Pillar reveals that Wolfe's dire financial predictions have been fully vindicated--and reveals the extent of the financial mismanagement within ADW.
Since the revelation of McCarrick's sex crimes in 2018, the ADW's annual operating deficit has more than tripled to nearly $10 million per year as giving has dried up across the archdiocese.
Making matters worse, the ADW's former Chief Financial Officer covered up the deficit with "smoke and mirrors." The ADW's Audit Committee, which stunningly did not include a single accountant, failed to catch the extent of the financial problems. Fr. De Rosa explains:
I asked why auditors did not catch this over the last several years. The audited financial statements of the [archdiocese] are all available online after all. [The ADW's current CFO] responded that technically the math was all there and correct for someone to see it, as he did on arrival in the [archdiocese], and that the ‘audit committee’ to which the audits are presented each year does not include any accountants, who might’ve been better trained to look for these things.
Now, the Archdiocese is unveiling a new system of assessments to skim more money from the Archdiocese's most financially healthy parishes in a bid to stave off bankruptcy. But this approach will likely only further accelerate the death of the golden goose. As Fr. De Rosa explains, “many people give money to parishes with the express understanding that 100% of their gift stays at the parish.” Now, that will no longer be the case. In addition, the new assessment system will require contributions to the Archdiocese even where gifts are made from foundations and grants. And it admits of no exceptions for smaller gift-giving.
The horrible mismanagement of the Archdiocese of Washington is representative of what is happening throughout the wider Church. Vicious attacks on the remaining traditional faithful, combined with outright deception and fraud, accelerate the Church's long-term decline. Francis's successor as Pope will have a monumental task on his hands. It is now clear beyond any doubt that the Church's revival will come from its traditional elements-- not doubling down on the status quo. The Church simply cannot afford a Francis II.
