Archdiocese of Philadelphia says deficit much smaller, but persistent

It hasn’t wiped out it’s deficit, but the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia says its finances are in much better shape. 

Back in 2012, the Archdiocese had a nearly $18 million deficit and in 2013 it was about $5 million. Spokesman Ken Gavin says it’s been whittled down even more.

“The trend that we are seeing is that we are on a path to recovery,” Gavin said. “We’re certainly not out of the woods yet but our operating deficit for the Archdiocese this year is about $3.1 million.”

Gavin says it took painful cuts combined with selling many assets.

“A quarter of the workforce here at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center was laid off and we were able to do a couple of other things too such as the sale of Archbishops residence and the priests’ home in Ventnor New Jersey.”

The archdiocese budget is separate from the individual parishes, so Gavin says recent parish mergers did not cut the deficit.