Anguished O'Malley explains fiscal crisis

In a dramatic plea for understanding, Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley yesterday described his effort to close parishes as "personally repulsive to me," but he also urged Catholics to understand that the sweeping reorganization of the Boston Archdiocese is necessary because of the shrinking number of priests and a financial crisis he described as "much worse than most people realize."

Facing unprecedented unrest from local Catholics upset by his plan to close 83 of the 357 parishes in the beleaguered archdiocese, O'Malley drafted a 1,500-word letter of explanation and sent it yesterday to all parishes and to the news media. The letter is part of an intensified effort by O'Malley to secure support for the parish closings, which have already resulted in the shuttering of 47 churches this year but have also led to the takeover of eight parishes by angry laypeople, the arrest of one parishioner for trespassing, two civil lawsuits, and multiple canon law challenges.

In the letter, which the archdiocese hopes priests will distribute to parishioners, the archbishop disclosed specifics of the financial crisis the archdiocese faces, including a $10 million annual deficit and an $80 million unfunded pension liability.

For the first time O'Malley publicly described his own personal anguish, which has been evident to many people who have met with him in recent weeks.

"Closing parishes is the hardest thing I have ever had to do in 40 years of religious life," he wrote. "I joined the monastery knowing that I would have to do difficult things for the rest of my life, but I never imagined I would have to be involved in anything so painful or so personally repulsive to me as this."

He used a theological metaphor suggesting he would rather die than close parishes. O'Malley has repeatedly suggested that he views closing parishes as a cross he must bear as part of his Christian journey, and in the letter he called on local Catholics to view the closings similarly, writing, "Out of the cross comes rebirth and resurrection."

"At times I ask God to call me home and let someone else finish this job, but I keep waking up in the morning to face another day of reconfiguration," he wrote. "So when people ask why I am doing this, I can only say it is because I love the church and want to give my life to the service of the church. If difficult decisions are not made now, the mission of the church will be seriously compromised in the future."

The parish closings effort is the most controversial of a series of difficult decisions O'Malley has made since becoming archbishop of Boston in July 2003. He replaced Cardinal Bernard F. Law, who had resigned seven months earlier because of criticism over his failure to remove sexually abusive priests from the ministry.

In an effort to end the crisis in the archdiocese, O'Malley rapidly agreed to pay $85 million to settle lawsuits brought by alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse, and he then agreed to sell the cardinal's mansion, as well as much of the land around it, to Boston College. In December, O'Malley declared that the archdiocese would have to close a large number of parishes because of declining numbers of priests and worshipers, demographic changes, and a money crunch.

In the letter, O'Malley reiterated his argument that a decline in the number of priests contributes to the need to close parishes -- an argument that some Catholics reject, citing the reliance on lay parish administrators in other parts of the country.

But O'Malley also emphasized, more than he has done before, that the archdiocese is in a financial crisis that also contributes to the need to close parishes. He said that crisis is caused not by the need to pay settlements to abuse victims, which are to be paid "in great part" through insurance and the sale of the archdiocesan property in Brighton. Instead, he attributed the financial crisis to the decline in giving caused by the abuse crisis.

"The financial situation of the archdiocese is much worse than most people realize," he wrote. "The 50 percent reduction of annual income to the diocese caused by the scandal has dealt a very serious blow to our local church. At the same time troubles in the stock market that have adversely affected pension plans and retirement accounts across the country have left us with an unfunded pension liability of $80 million."

O'Malley said the archdiocese's operating budget has been cut by $14 million over three years, causing a reduction in support of Catholic schools, parishes, and ministries, and that the archdiocese is running an annual deficit of $10 million.

He said parishes, which are supposed to be financially self-sufficient, are also struggling, with "many . . . unable to pay their bills" and many doing so only by selling property.

O'Malley also offered the strongest language he has used to describe his concern about archdiocesan pension funds, saying "the pension plans for laity and clergy are in danger."

"Some people think that reconfiguration will mean a great surplus of money for the archdiocese," he wrote. "Unfortunately, this is not true. I have asked the finance council to work on a strategic plan for the archdiocese, which I shall share with you. I am committed to financial transparency and to using our human and financial resources for the mission of the church."

The leaders of the Council of Parishes, an alliance of parishes that have closed or are slated to close, issued a statement yesterday calling for a six-month pause to the closings process and asked O'Malley to allow the celebration of Sunday Mass at the closed parishes still occupied by parishioners. Currently, those churches hold prayer services that are not considered Mass because there is no priest; at some services, wafers that have been consecrated by sympathetic priests are distributed as Communion.

"The extent of the financial issues disclosed today by Archbishop O'Malley is staggering and calls into question the financial stewardship of the archdiocese over its assets, including parishioner donations and personnel retirement plans," said the statement from Peter Borre and Cynthia Deysher, who cochair the council. "This underscores the need for much more disclosure about archdiocesan finances. . . . Comprehensive financial information must be made public and then validated by a nationally recognized auditing firm."

O'Malley said he wrote the letter because he believes he needs to do a better job explaining the reasons for parish closings. The letter follows several weeks of efforts to respond to those upset over the parish closings. O'Malley also appointed a panel of prominent laypeople to review the closings process, backed away from his plan to close a low-income parish in Charlestown, met with pastors of some closing parishes, and offered more time to multiple parishes struggling with closings. He has not, however, agreed to permanently keep open any parish he had planned to close and has not met with parishioners occupying churches as a form of protest.

As he has done before, O'Malley called on Catholics to think of the needs of the entire church, not just their local parish. Alluding to the argument of parishioners in places such as Weymouth, Sudbury, and Newton who have argued their parishes should not be closed because they are vibrant and self-sufficient, O'Malley wrote, "Viability must be seen not at the parish level but at the level of the whole archdiocese."

"The only way to avoid a catastrophic debacle is for us to downsize," he wrote. "We have more buildings and churches than we can afford to maintain."

O'Malley's statement drew qualified praise from Stephen J. Pope, an associate professor of theology at Boston College and editor of the new book "Common Calling: The Laity and Governance of the Catholic Church."

"This is the best thing he's said -- it's clear, it communicates his own anguish in a persuasive way, and he really pushes us hard to see the universality of the church, and that sometimes individual parishes have to make sacrifices for the sake of the whole, which is the way the New Testament sees the church," Pope said.

Michael Paulson can be reached at mpaulson@globe.com.