The Catholic church in the country needs to maximize its resources to improve its financial system and be able to provide funds for its various programs and apostolate, Archbishop John Du , Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippine treasurer, said yesterday.

Du, who spoke at the 14th National Convention of the Arch/Diocesan Financial Administrators of the Philippines held at the Bacolod Pavillon, said the church has prime properties that remain unproductive and they have to do something about them to generate funds instead of begging and asking for dole-outs.

Du, main speaker of the conference, admitted that they need the assistance of lay people who have expertise in finance management.

He said each diocese is autonomous and has its own properties to take care of. The challenge for the diocesan treasury, he said, is to make these properties productive and sources of funds.

“We need competent lay people in business to help us. We are opening lay participation, and the priests in charge of their diocesan treasury need to seek advice from business people,” Du said.

He said it is high time for the clergy and the lay community to come together and collaborate to work out a plan and make the financial system of the church more organized.

Aside from providing funds to help the poorest of the poor, Du said the church also needs to take care of the elderly and retired priests.

While the CBCP has a pension plan for all members of the clergy and bishops, he said the amount is very minimal and can hardly sustain the medical needs of the priests when they retire.

Fr. Jun Villanueva, secretary general of the CBCP Pension Plan, said a monthly contribution of P200 from every priest and P300 from every bishop is collected for their pension.

When they retire, he said every priest gets P2,000 a month from the CBCP, while the bishop receives P3,000.

He said it is fortunate that some dioceses are creative enough to initiate their own retirement programs for the clergy to augment the amount from the CBCP.

Meanwhile, topics discussed at the convention yesterday included the legal aspects involved in handling the church’s finances.*NAB

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