Diocese plan to centralize parish functions on hold

The Diocese of Rockville Centre is putting on hold a plan to centralize in diocesan headquarters local parish functions including finances.

The move comes after the consultant leading the reorganization, Charles Trunz III, announced his resignation less than a year after he became the diocese's chief operating officer.

Diocesan spokesman Sean Dolan said that implementing the centralization program following a voluntary buyout program that affected 560 employees in parishes throughout the diocese this year was "too much, too fast, too soon."

"To roll that out at the same time and given the current environment, it just made sense to take a step back and look at it in a calmer environment," he said.

Dolan added that the diocese is not eliminating the idea - called "Center of Excellence" - because it's "an innovative concept we want to make sure we get right."

At the same time, he said the diocese is also placing on hold a plan to implement a new employee evaluation process that would have been conducted by the diocese at parishes throughout Nassau and Suffolk.

Dolan said the buyout program had generated "a lot of upheaval" in the diocese. "You can't understate how significant that was in terms of what we had to deal with in the diocese," he said. "The rumor mill was running wild" about the closings of everything from schools to parishes to cemeteries. "There were a lot of accusations flying back and forth."

He also said "there are no imminent plans that I am aware of for layoffs" in the diocese, though Bishop William Murphy "is committed to a balanced budget."

Dolan said that "there is a feeling out there they [pastors] were not consulted enough about the shared services model."

The model would permit parishes to tap into experts at diocesan headquarters for help with financial management, along with legal work, development or fundraising, communications, and building and construction. The idea was to save money by centralizing and making more efficient such services.

About 30 parishes are already using the diocesan headquarters for help in these areas, he said. Some 100 of 133 parishes are expected to lose money this year.

Trunz, a former high-level executive at JPMorgan, is stepping down next month because of what Dolan has said were a number of challenges and frustrations he encountered in implementing the buyout program and other plans. Trunz assumed the post last June.