Featured in Fides 5/2023
IN MEMORIAM
Carmelite Sister Therese Newcombe 30.4.1940–28.5.2023
Sr. Therese Newcombe OCD, who had to stay in Finland after the closing of the Carmelite Monastery, has died. Bishop Emeritus Teemu Sippo SCJ will offer the Requiem Mass in St. Henry’s Cathedral on Saturday June 17 at 11.00. Later the same day Sr. Therese will be laid to rest at the Catholic Cemetery in Turku.
Sister of the Most Precious Blood Renée Brinker 11.10.1931–6.4.2023
Sr. Renée Brinker CPPS, who lived in Finland for many years, has died. Her funeral took place in O’Fallon, Missouri on April 15, 2023. Among other tasks, Sr. Renée worked as the head of the English School 1977–1984.
News and Current Affairs
Pope Visits Hungary
https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/travels/2023/outside/documents/ungheria-2023.html
Prelate Vimpari Moves to Bucharest
Monsignore Tuomo Vimpari, who has been part of the Diplomatic Corps of the Holy See since 2006, has become the Administrator of the Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See in Bucharest, Romania. There is currently no Apostolic Nuncio in the country; thus he will take responsibility for the Nunciature. The same Nuncio is shared by Moldova.
Prelate Vimpari started his new diplomatic post in the beginning of June.
Delegation of the Nordic Catholic Bishops Conference Visits Ukraine
The delegation of the Nordic Catholic Bishops Conference (NBK), which consisted of the Bishop of Stockholm Anders Arborelius OCD and the Bishop-Prelate of Trondheim Erik Varden, travelled to Ukraine for a visit of solidarity. The visit lasted 2 days (May 9-10), and took place based on the initiative of Bishop Bohdan Dzyurakh CSSR, who is a Bishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and the Apostolic Exarch for the Ukrainian faithful of the Byzantine rite living in Germany and Scandinavian countries. As stated by Bishop Varden: “We wish in this way to show solidarity to the people of Ukraine and its Christians.”
Interview in English with Cardinal Arborelius und Bishop Varden during the trip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viNJouEzvcg
Pope’s Prayer Intentions for 2023
https://www.usccb.org/prayers/popes-monthly-intentions-2023
June
For the abolition of torture: We pray that the international community may commit in a concrete way to ensuring the abolition of torture and guarantee support to victims and their families.
July
For a Eucharistic life: We pray that Catholics may place the celebration of the Eucharist at the heart of their lives, transforming human relationships in a very deep way and opening to the encounter with God and all their brothers and sisters.
August
For World Youth Day: We pray the World Youth Day in Lisbon will help young people to live and witness the Gospel in their own lives.
Speech of Pope Francis in Budapest
Finances of the Diocese 2022
The economy of our local Church was deficient in 2022 by –378 555 euros. The deficit of the Diocese was –443 660 euros. The situation was aided by the surplus of the four large parishes. The result of the four small parishes was deficient.
The weakened result of last year is explained especially by the increases energy expenses. In addition, the property taxes of multiple parishes increased by tens of thousands due to added value from renovations. On the other hand, the income from membership (membership dues, voluntary contributions, and the income from collections at Masses) increased after COVID-19. In 2022, income from membership was 915 007 euros, which is ca. 100 000 euros more than the previous year. However, we have not yet reached the level of time before COVID-19 in 2019. We are even further from the goal to which we need to aim. At 34,9% of the overall funding, the income from membership is simply too low for the Church to survive on its own income. This has been a long term problem, which needs to be solved, especially as aide from foreign organizations has been steadily decreasing.
The situation of our four smaller parishes causes worry, as their financial results are not satisfactory. The problem is caused by the small amount of members in these parishes; their members actually donate to their parishes more per member than the members of the large parishes. The deficit of the small parishes was altogether almost –100 000 euros. Supporting these parishes is a difficult task for the Diocese, as the economy of the Diocese is also not very stable. In addition, the development of the large parishes is also worrying, as in them the surplus was decreased compared with previous years.
It is extremely important that each member remembers to support the Church by paying the membership dues regularly. Only with support from the members can we take care of our responsibilities and develop the functions of the Church in a reasonable manner. One way to decrease the expenses from collecting the membership dues is to send your e-mail address to the Diocese (maksut@katolinen.fi), so that the membership dues letter can be e-mailed to you. Sending the letters in the mail is at the moment costing the Diocese over 20000 euros a year.
We sincerely thank those already paying their membership dues!
For more information in Finnish, see https://katolinen.fi/hiippakunnan-talous/
