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Rockville Centre Diocese buyouts

In a surprise move, the Diocese of Rockville Centre announced Friday that its new chief operating officer, who was brought in to put into place a sweeping buyout plan affecting as many as 1,800 employees, is stepping down from his post.
The diocese said Charles Trunz III, who assumed his position last June, will be leaving on June 1, though he will continue to offer advice on a volunteer basis.
"Over the past year, Charles Trunz has improved business practices, created new financial disciplines and developed strategic plans benefiting the Diocese, its parishes and our church," <a href="/topics/Bishop_William_Murphy">Bishop William Murphy</a> said in a letter sent to pastors and posted on the diocesan Web site. "Having accomplished these key goals, Mr. Trunz has indicated that he will not continue his employment with the Diocese after June 1st of this year."
Diocesan spokesman Sean Dolan said Trunz, a former high-level executive at JP Morgan, faced a variety of challenges and frustrations in implementing the buyout program and other plans to address the diocese's fiscal problems. About 100 of 133 parishes are expected to lose money this year.
"I think the scope of the challenges and the depth of the challenges are greater than maybe he originally believed," Dolan said. "It's no secret that this has been an extremely challenging environment for him."
Dolan also said church culture sometimes hampered the implementation of the plans. "To get your hands around the organization is complex," he said. "You really have to understand this culture and the church and its various facets. I think we encountered more resistance to certain things than we would have thought initially."
He said, for instance, that "not being able implement things as efficiently as you would in the corporate world has been a challenge to him."
On Thursday, diocesan officials denied rumors that Trunz was resigning. Phil Megna, of the <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> chapter of <a href="/topics/Voice_of_the_Faithful">Voice of the Faithful</a>, a group critical of church hierarchy and the staff cuts, said he had been hearing the rumors for two weeks.
"If in fact his goal was to upset loyal employees of the parishes throughout the diocese, he succeeded," Megna said.

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Key LI diocese executive stepping down in June

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Almost 100 of 133 Roman Catholic parishes in the Diocese of Rockville Centre are expected to lose money this year, based on a diocesan analysis that shows more financial problems than initially reported a few weeks ago. 
The <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> diocese also increased the number of employees being offered buyout packages from 1,500 to 1,800. That amounts to nearly one-third of its workforce of 6,000 - a figure one nationally recognized church finances expert called "eye-popping" and "unheard-of." 
Two weeks ago, the diocese said about 66 parishes&nbsp;operated in the red. But that figure was based on self-reporting by the parishes, said diocesan spokesman Sean Dolan. The diocese's own analysis came up with the figure of close to 100 expected to lose money this year. Last year, 96 parishes operated in the red. 
Dolan said offering voluntary separation packages "is always difficult, but we're doing it in a very compassionate manner." 
Diocesan officials offered a variety of reasons for the financial troubles: investment losses amid the recession; declining Mass attendance and donations; increasing expenses for payroll, health care and pensions; and building maintenance on aging infrastructure. Dolan said the buyouts are expected to cost the diocese "several million dollars," depending on how many employees accept them. 
VIDEO: <a href="http://www.newsday.com/news/diocese-of-rockville-centre-to-re-evaluate-programs-1.1723966">Charles Trunz, COO of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, explains the organization's plan to re-evaluate programs. Click here to watch</a> 
The diocese expanded the buyout offers after recalculating how many are eligible following the program's launch in the last few weeks, Dolan said. The diocese, home to 1.5 million Catholics, is one of the largest employers on <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>. 
The diocese says it hopes to keep providing high-quality services to parishioners through more efficient operations and by allowing former employees to return as volunteers. 
"Currently, many of our parishes and schools are financially sound," Bishop William <a href="/topics/Bishop_William_Murphy">Murphy</a> wrote in his weekly column in The <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> Catholic this week. "However, an alarming number are currently struggling to stay viable. Current analysis shows that up to 100 parishes in the Diocese of Rockville Centre either have or shortly will have operating deficits." 
Murphy added that some parishes have dipped into cash reserves to pay employees and subsidize their schools. The diocese does not have a targeted number of jobs to shed to meet budget goals, Dolan said. Employees have until late March to decide whether to accept the package. 
Economics professor Charles Zeck, director of the Center for the Study of Church Management at <a href="/topics/Villanova_University">Villanova University</a>'s School of Business, said Monday he is not aware of any U.S. diocese offering buyouts to employees on the scale pursued by Rockville Centre. 
"I've never seen anybody doing it at that level," Zeck said. "To have that many people reduced in one fell swoop like that, it's unheard-of." 
He called the 1,800 figure "eye-popping" and said "they must have some serious financial problems to be doing something of this magnitude." 
Ordinarily "the Church is really reluctant to let people go," he said. "They are a faith-based organization and Catholic social teaching tells us to be very careful about reducing employment for people." 
DIOCESE OF ROCKVILLE CENTRE 
Parishes in the diocese expected to operate in the red this year: nearly 100 
Employees being offered buyout packages (out of 6,000): 1,800 
Roman Catholics on <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>: 1.5 million

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Diocese sees more financial woes, to offer 1,800 buyouts

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In an unusual public rebuke, the pastor of a Roman Catholic church in Medford has distributed a letter criticizing the Diocese of Rockville Centre's buyout plan that could affect up to 1,800 employees.
"Chill winds now buffet the Diocese of Rockville Centre and colder still are some policies of its spokesmen," the Rev. Edward J. Kealey wrote in a letter handed out Sunday at Masses at St. Sylvester's Church. He titled the letter "Economics - a dismal science in Rockville Centre."
"Our mission is not to hoard wealth, but to invigorate conviction," he wrote. He criticized what he called the "epic mismanagement" of diocesan finances and said the diocese's invitation to employees who take the buyout to return as volunteers "skates pretty close to injustice, especially in a period of mountainous unemployment."
In response, diocesan spokesman Sean Dolan said, "The diocese and many of its parishes are facing significant financial challenges. We have received many comments, both supportive and challenging, of the decisions that have been made or are under consideration."
He said the diocese realizes its headquarters can "become a lightning rod for a wide range of feedback during this process," and that it will use the feedback to try to shape a successful restructuring.
Last week the diocese, one of the largest employers on <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> and spiritual home to 1.5 million Catholics, said 100 of its 133 parishes are expected to lose money this year.
In an interview, Kealey said he wrote the letter to express his feelings on the diocese's actions, He did not object to everything in the recent diocesan proposal. He wrote that some remedies proposed by Charles Trunz III, the diocese's new chief operating officer, "seem quite fair to individuals. Several St. Sylvester employees can benefit from them. . . . However - and it is a major however - his experience and expertise have been in the profit-making realms."
Kealey also wrote that it appears many priests and lay leaders were not consulted about the crisis. He also criticized the diocese's new management initiative to centralize many functions traditionally carried out by parishes, through a new Center of Excellence.
Kealey said the policy "elevates centralization over local initiative, control over creativity. . . . Rather than considering the chancery [diocesan headquarters] a center of excellence, some wags now refer to it as a 'black hole' - everything is sucked in and nothing comes out."
The diocese has about 6,000 full- and part-time employees, meaning close to one-third of the staff could be bought out.

Suffolk

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Medford priest's letter slams diocese buyout plan

The Diocese of <a href="/topics/Rockville_Centre%2C_NY">Rockville Centre</a> is launching a sweeping reorganization that will sharply reduce its workforce and result in a more efficient operation of its parish programs, church officials said Monday. 
The diocese said voluntary buyouts would be offered to some 1,500 eligible full-time and part-time employees, or 25 percent of its 6,000-person workforce in parishes and diocesan headquarters. However, it did not say how many jobs it was seeking to cut, and some of those who take buyouts will be replaced. The diocese is one of <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a>'s largest employers. 
The voluntary separation offers will be made starting next month to employees including parish administrators, directors of religious education, outreach workers, maintenance people and non-unionized elementary school teachers. Those offered the buyout will have 45 days to decide. 
In a letter released last week and posted on the diocesan newspaper Web site, <a href="/topics/Bishop_William_Murphy">Bishop William Murphy</a> said the diocese is carrying out the program because "the expenses associated with the ministries and services we provide . . . exceed the donations you, as good stewards, make." 
Nearly half the 133 parishes in the diocese operate at a deficit despite steady donations, in part because of an increase in requests for the church's services, diocesan officials said. 
Charles Trunz III, a former <a href="/topics/Wall_Street">Wall Street</a> executive hired by Murphy last year for the new position of chief operating officer, said the overhaul does not include plans to close or consolidate schools or parishes. 
"It's just the opposite," Trunz said in an interview Monday in his first detailed public comments about the program. "This plan is allowing us to create new surpluses to keep those parishes and schools open." 
Trunz said the plan would help the diocese better organize itself and improve its finances by gaining greater efficiency in part through technology and shared services. For example, while some administrative jobs are likely to be eliminated, a Center of Excellence is being created at the diocesan level to help guide parishes in administration, financial management, building and construction, and human resources. <a href="/topics/Catholic_Charities">Catholic Charities</a> and Catholic hospitals are not included in the buyout plans. 
Also, the diocese plans to institute employee evaluations after the buyout period. 
Trunz met Monday with about 200 directors of religious education to inform them about the plan. 
Many were reluctant to comment after, but one person, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said people left "gloomy" and apprehensive about the buyout and evaluation system. 
She said many still had unanswered questions, and feared that if they do not take the buyout they could be fired later after a poor evaluation or if the diocese decided a job was no longer necessary. 
Diocesan spokesman Sean Dolan said that even though the buyouts will likely result in a "substantial" reduction in the workforce, the church will strive to maintain the same level of services for parishioners, in part through greater efficiency. 
Trunz said the voluntary separation offer "was very, very compassionate because people have dedicated their life to the church," Trunz said. 
The employee performance evaluations will start in the spring or summer. It is possible some positions could be eliminated after the buyout period, diocesan officials said. 
Richard Grafer, accountant and member of the <a href="/topics/Voice_of_the_Faithful">Voice of the Faithful</a>, frequent critics of the church, said the goal of eliminating inefficiency was a good one. However, he said the diocese has a healthy operating reserve fund, and should not eliminate jobs to boost that surplus.

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Rockville Centre Diocese revamp will cut workforce

As the Diocese of Rockville Centre implements a buyout plan for up to 1,500 employees, the church may look increasingly to volunteers to help provide services, officials said. 
One reason the church has fallen into tough times financially is because it now pays people to do work previously done by many volunteers including priests, nuns and lay people, diocesan spokesman Sean Dolan said Tuesday. 
While not an "integral" part of the diocesan reorganization, welcoming back current workers as volunteers in the future will be permitted, Dolan said. 
"The beauty about this program is that any of our people can come back as volunteers," said Charles Trunz III, the diocese's new chief operating officer who is overseeing the reorganization. "There are many, many opportunities to volunteer and help our church." 
Dan Bartley, national head of <a href="/topics/Voice_of_the_Faithful">Voice of the Faithful</a>, a group often critical of the church hierarchy, said inviting back workers as volunteers "sounds like a very callous approach to people's livelihoods especially during such difficult economic times." He suggested the diocese use some of its operating surplus to support the workers. 
Dolan said the buyout plan is not "looking to replace a paid person with a volunteer person to do comparable work." He added the church is "still basically a paid model." 
But Our Lady of The Miraculous Medal in Wyandanch may serve as a model of the future church, said its pastor, the Rev. Bill Brisotti. The parish has just a handful of employees and numerous volunteers. 
Trunz publicly discussed the voluntary separation plan for the first time Monday. It affects up to 25 percent of the diocese's workforce of 6,000 and includes directors of religious education, secretaries, outreach workers, some teachers, and administrators. Workers have until late March to decide. 
Meanwhile, <a href="/topics/Voice_of_the_Faithful">Voice of the Faithful</a> members contend the reorganization will place more power in the hands of <a href="/topics/Bishop_William_Murphy">Bishop William Murphy</a>. The diocese's plan calls for creating a diocesan Center of Excellence to provide services to parishes in administration, finances, legal work, building and construction, and human resources, Trunz said. 
Dolan acknowledged the move will create more centralization, but said that could be good.

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Diocese invites employees as volunteers after buyout

For the first time in five years, a Catholic elementary school on <a href="/topics/Long_Island%2C_NY">Long Island</a> is closing its doors, Diocese of <a href="/topics/Rockville_Centre%2C_NY">Rockville Centre</a> officials said.
Corpus Christi Elementary School in Mineola, operating since 1922, will shut down after classes end in June, the diocese said.
"It is never easy to close a school," said Sister Joanne Callahan, diocesan superintendent of schools. "But the demographics and enrollment decline left the parish no alternative."
Diocesan officials said enrollment at Corpus Christi dropped by 58 percent in the last decade, from 431 students to 183. This year's first and second grades had just 14 and 12 students, respectively.
The Diocesan Education Commission and Tomorrow's Hope Foundation - a nonprofit that offers scholarships to Catholic school students - worked with the Corpus Christi parish and school for the last four years trying to avoid the closing, the diocese said. But in the end, it wasn't enough.
"I am saddened by the closing of Corpus Christi School," said its principal, Susan M. Anaischik. "It has had a very rich history of academic excellence, cultural diversity, and formation in our Catholic faith."
Rockville Centre had bucked a nationwide trend by avoiding the closure of elementary schools since 2005. Some 31 new Catholic elementary or high schools opened in the United States last year, but 162 closed or consolidated, according to the National Catholic Education Association.
Enrollment in Catholic schools nationwide has dropped from a historic high of 5.2 million in 1965 to 2.2 million today.

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Diocese to shut Catholic elementary school in Mineola

Diocese of Rockville Centre workforce issues: Complete coverage

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