“With the changes in the long census form, it is no longer evident on what basis our per capita contributions will be determined,” Powers said.
Each diocese must contribute a per capita payment based on the number of Catholics living there. The annual collection for the needs of the bishops’ conference in September helps dioceses raise the money for this assessment.
In 2007, the last year the CCCB released the data to the news media, the English per capita rate was 28.43 cents, while the French per capita rate was 18.78 cents. The CCCB’s estimated operating expenses that year were more than $3.1 million.
Powers said the bishops agreed during their annual plenary in Cornwall, Ont., last month that co-treasurers, Hamilton Bishop Douglas Crosby and Saint-Jean-de-Longueuil Bishop Lionel Gendron, “will be working on all these questions over the coming months with the other members of the Advisory Committee on Financial Issues.” Their work will assist the Executive Committee and Permanent Council “in bringing forward specific recommendations before the 2012 Plenary Assembly,” he said.
“All the bishops recognize that the financial questions facing the CCCB are serious,” he said.
In August 2010, then CCCB president Bishop Pierre Morissette wrote then Industry Minister Tony Clement urging him to reconsider plans to change the long form census, noting that the information gathered is “most helpful to all faith groups.” The League also wrote Clement to say the information about religious affiliation helped religions in their planning for their community’s needs.
As has been customary for the past several years, the CCCB did not release its financial statements to the media this year. That information can be found at www.cra-arc.gc.ca under the CCCB’s corporate name Concacan Inc.
CCCB facing tough financial questions
By Deborah Gyapong, Canadian Catholic NewsOTTAWA - Changes in the no longer mandatory long-form census have prompted the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops to examine new ways to fund their Ottawa-based secretariat.
“The bishops are becoming more and more aware that the CCCB has important financial challenges,” said CCCB general secretary Msgr. Pat Powers in an e-mail. “These include revenues and expenses, as well as how these have been reported in the past.”
Powers noted the CCCB “used to rely on Statistics Canada to provide data on the Catholic population of each diocese.” The census will no longer be asking for religious affiliation. The CCCB and the Catholic Civil Rights League were among many groups that opposed the changes last year.
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