Charities, CYO are merging Priori ties: Serving pa rishes and p oor
By Patrick J oyce atholic Charities and the Catholic Youth Organization are merging to Cform a single archdiocesan social service agency which will p l ace a renewed emp hasis on serving parishes while maintaining the two organizations ' tradition of serving the poor. The merger is actually a reunification of the two agencies which had been parts of a single organization until the mid-1950s. The new agency will be known as Catholic Charities/Catholic Youth Organization. While Catholic Charities has been working to eliminate $2.6 million in indeb t edness , Brian Cahill , t he execu tive director of both agencies, said t he merger
was no t rela ted to th at deb t and he said no emp loyees will be laid off as a result of the
merger.
"Our deliberations were driven by these
ques ti ons : Is one agency be tte r than two, how can our soci al service agencies best resp ond to the needs of par ishes, what is
the best way to carry out our mission? , " Mr. Cahill said. He pointed out that a reunification is
not a new idea . I t was proposed , bu t not acted on , dur in g t he development of t he
Pastoral Plan for theJkchdiocese of San Francisco in the mid-1990s. Archbishop William J. Levada, who
St Patrick 's Jbk 150~ Anni\ers ^
heads t he boards of bo t h agencies, said ,
"The reunification is an opportunity to better serve our diverse client base and prov ide
more suppor t for t he work of our par ishes .
We also expect that a combined organizati on
can more effec tively address cruc i al ques ti ons reg ard ing the appr opr iate balance of pr ivate and government support for
~ See Page 7 ~
CHARTTIES/CYO, page 5
Santa RosaDiocese seems on road to recovery By Kamille Nixon Maher he Diocese of Santa Rosa appears to be on the road to recovery one year T' after Bishop Daniel Walsh took the helm of a diocese battered by financial and sexual scandal. The situation started as a sexual scandal involving a Bishop G. Patrick Ziemann and one of his priests, but that news wasquickly followed by a financial crisis in the form of a $16 million shortf all that forced the delay of projects from Petaluma to Eureka. Talk of recovery has focused on renewed financial health measured by a high level of confidence in a new finance council, trust in a bishop frequently described as
a "straight arrow, " and parishioner satisfaction as delayed projects come to fruition. With nearly all of its external debt paid, the diocese has adopted several safeguards. The most celebrated is a finance council that meets monthly and has proved itself effective in reversingthe diocese's long history of living beyond means. Bishop Walsh said he has received a "very positive" response to an update letter he wrote to pastors and parishioners at Easter time. "People are pleased with what has been done and are anxious to move on," said the bishop, a San Francisco native and former chancellor and Auxiliary Bishop here. "They are very happy that things are settling down and are looking forward, not backward anymore." SANTA ROSA, page 10 i
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