A development development

The Archdiocese of Boston soon plans to announce that it has achieved the $12 million it set as a goal for the 2005 Annual Catholic Appeal.

The archdiocesan development folks are slowly rebuilding after the church's fundraising operation took a huge hit during the sexual abuse crisis. Last year they raised $11 million. They're still way down from the $17 million they raised in 1999, but edging back up from $8.8 million in 2002.

Arcbishop O'Malley said in an interview last week that the archdiocese is looking for a new chief development officer to replace Kenneth J. Hokenson, whose has headed the archdiocesan development office since 2001. "We also have a study going on, on the development efforts of the archdiocese, and how to improve those, and also how the archdiocese can help the parishes in their efforts at fund-raising and development," O'Malley said.