Greg Daly
Weekly collection figures fell in the Archdiocese of Dublin during 2016, according to the latest diocesan figures.
The newest tranche of reports from the Parishes and Charities of the Archdiocese of Dublin reveal that the diocesan Share collection dropped significantly in 2016, with family offerings to parishes and collections to support clergy also dipping in the period.
The total Share collection across the Archdiocese of Dublin for the 12 months to December 31 2016 was €6,273,000, which over a 52-week year would have meant an average weekly collection of €120,635.
This marks a significant drop on the €128,692 collected in a typical week during the 18-month period to December 31, 2015 covered in the previous set of accounts, and fits with a general pattern of declining Share figures over recent years; weekly collections for the 12 months ending June 30, 2011 averaged €133,558.
Despite declining collection figures, the Share deficit for 2016 was just €234,000, a rather less alarming figure than the €3.66m shortfall over the 18 months to December 31, 2015. The overall value of the Share fund at year’s end stood at €14,765,000, up from €14,447,000 at the end of the previous period.
The total income for the Common Fund, which covers the remuneration of priests serving in the diocese, as well as an amount which is transferred to a ‘Clerical Fund’ for sick and retired clergy, stood at €14.3m in 2016, which, at €275,000 per week is only a very slight drop on the average €276,077 raised in a typical week over the previous 18 months.
However, with incomes from donations and legacy being practically non-existent in 2016 compared to the previous 18 months – €3,000 as opposed to €547,000 – the fund had a yearly deficit of €920,000, whereas the deficit for the period to December 31, 2015 was €372,000.
Outgoings
Income for parishes, most of which came from the family offering collection, rose slightly in the period: if the €44.9m raised during the 18 months to December 31, 2015 meant an average weekly income of €575,641, the €31.8m raised over 2016 equated to a typical weekly income of €611,539.
Against this, though, given the wide range of parishes in Dublin, income will have declined in many places and these figures need to be read against different outgoings. Significantly, the basic family offering figure seems to have dropped from an average of €258,436 per week to €248,288 per week.
Valuation of diocesan assets continues to be the trickiest part of the accounts, even allowing for how heritage assets such as chalices and art are not treated as assets since they are not held as investments or with any intent to dispose of them, or for how diocesan schools, despite being Church property, are treated as being in custody rather than owned.
The previous set of accounts did not consider land values at all, holding off the process of land valuation for later accounts. The 2016 accounts begin the process of identifying and valuing parish land, with land owned by three parishes being valued at €3,254,000, and note that the project of identifying and valuing parish land continued into 2017.