OPINION

Opinion/Bishop McManus: Catholic Church, nonprofits saving Worcester taxpayers millions

Most Rev. Robert J. McManus

Dear Worcester city councilors,

The Roman Catholic Diocese or Worcester, including its parishes, schools and agencies, along with the many Catholic nonprofit institutions in the area, can certainly sympathize with the dilemma this pandemic has posed on fiscal operations. Discussion of all possible sources of income is healthy, which in the world of morality would be part of the process of forming one’s conscience for good decision making, and that makes it important to have complete information at your disposal.

Payments in lieu of taxes, or PILOT payments, are only one form of assistance the city of Worcester may receive. Local nonprofits are spending a great deal of money for services which otherwise would need to be funded by the city.

The best example of how the Catholic Church is helping the city is in the area of elementary and high school education. Each year, hundreds of young people are opting to enroll in our schools. Catholic schools located in the Diocese of Worcester have 5,033 students enrolled this year which saves the taxpayers and the communities in Worcester County over $65,000,000 dollars.

In Worcester this year we have 687 students in our parish and diocesan schools who are residents of the city, excluding those who attend private Catholic schools. Using the latest reported average cost per student in Worcester, St. Paul Diocesan Jr/Sr High School, St. Peter Central Catholic Elementary School and Our Lady of the Angels Elementary School saved the city $10,380,735 this school year.  Many of those students are of various faiths or of no particular religious affiliation.

Another area of assistance is in the form of the social services which our parishes and agencies provide. Many inner-city parishes, often with their St. Vincent de Paul Societies, operate food pantries and emergency stabilization efforts for neighborhood residents in need, regardless of race, color or creed. A single inner-city parish in Worcester typically distributes $30,000 to $50,000 worth of food annually, not counting holiday baskets, gifts from giving trees and other forms of emergency assistance.

Some parishes even help with sanitizing products to help people cope with the pandemic. All these efforts are contributing to stability in the neighborhoods, in a city which is, for the record, trying to fight homelessness and food insecurity of its residents, including public school children. Most of these parishes and groups also collect and provide school supplies for children in public schools.

Catholic Churches provide facilities for various support groups, including youth camps and AA groups, while following current pandemic safety protocols. Since the start of this healthcare crisis, many people, again of various faiths or of no faith, have sought out pastoral counseling to help deal with the impact this pandemic is having on them and their families.

There is now a new free medical program at St. Peter’s Parish which, like so many of our programs, addresses the needs of undocumented workers and families in public schools, many of whom would fall through the cracks out of fear. Though difficult to quantify in dollars, the tangible benefits reduce support services needed by city departments.

Of course, there is the obvious financial support we pay for various city services, including water and sewer taxes, various fire department inspections, permits and fees, and paying for police details as needed. Likewise, we pay taxes on properties which the city has deemed are not being used for direct operations of our pastoral, educational or charitable services, including donated land and overflow parking lots.

All these educational and charitable programs and so many more are happening while we all struggle with how to fundraise during a pandemic. Most nonprofits relied on event-based fundraisers which have all been cancelled since February. Yet when presented with the need to continue and even expand these services, many parishioners have stepped forward and donated generously, and local grants from Partners in Charity, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and the St. Vincent Healthcare Fund are helping some of these programs specifically.

Each dollar stretches farther thanks to the additional volunteers who have come forward. There is no better example of this than the small army of volunteer delivery people who will follow stringent Covid protocols to bring Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners from Catholic Charities to the vulnerable elderly population in the City of Worcester.

The generosity of our donors is humbling, but it also raises this final issue. The majority of funds which are at our disposal, and I would think at most nonprofits’ disposal, were given with a specific intent: feeding the hungry, education, housing assistance, operating our churches, etc. Most of our organizations operate at a deficit and have had to use much of their available savings. While we are grateful that pandemic relief funding was made available this year from the federal government, that helped us keep as many people employed as possible, along with providing the bridge until we donations began to catch up.

I suspect most nonprofits in the city are in the same situation in which the Catholic Church finds itself. To take dollars away from charitable and educational programs to pay “in lieu of taxes” will simply transfer the need to the city to deliver those services, thereby saving nothing.

I offer for your serious consideration that a new definition of PILOT be considered: "Partner in Lieu of Taxes." That partnership between area non-profits and the city of Worcester has been saving taxpayer dollars for years and, as importantly, helping to make Worcester a better place to live for all its residents.

Most Rev. Robert J. McManus is the bishop of Worcester