Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2007 / Economic crisis' impact on parishes, people studied by archdiocese
Economic crisis' impact on parishes, people studied by archdiocese
Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published November 9, 2007
Detroit — The Archdiocese of Detroit is investigating how the "rolling thunder" of mortgage foreclosures, job losses and loss of health insurance is affecting the local Catholic community and Catholic charitable agencies.
The results will be used in devising ways the archdiocese can be helpful in addressing the problems, as well as sharing "best practices" — effective ways some parishes are already addressing aspects of the problem.
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Joyce Hyttinen, director of the archdiocesan Office for Catholic Social Action, said Monday she had sampled some of the approximately 90 surveys received to date, and had found them pretty consistent in reporting both "greater numbers of requests for assistance and requests to meet bigger needs."
Rather than just requests for some help in paying an electricity bill or rent, parishes were getting requests for help in staving off a mortgage foreclosure, Hyttinen added.
Beyond the material impact and greater requests for assistance, the archdiocese is seeking to understand the psychological and spiritual effects of these problems, looking into how they often lead to separations and divorces, depression or domestic violence.
And it hopes to delve deeper into reports that these problems sometimes produce a sense of shame or embarrassment that leads to estrangement of people from their parish communities.
Parish representatives to the 18 vicariate pastoral councils around the archdiocese were to discuss these issues at their October or November meetings. Also, all 285 parishes and missions in the archdiocese are supposed to complete and return a survey questionnaire sent out in early October by Nov. 18.
Survey results will be tabulated and studied, and all parishes will be invited to an archdiocesan "summit" sometime in February to not only learn the results, but also to learn about ways to address the problems.
"Our job here at the diocesan level is to figure out what we can do to help," said Michael Hovey, director of the archdiocesan Office for Catholic Social Teaching.
He said he envisions the February meeting as an opportunity to inform parishes what help they can receive from the archdiocese and to share information on other resources available.
Hovey cited as an example the program run by the ACORN organization that intercedes with mortgage holders to obtain temporary relief for homeowners who face rising monthly payments on adjustable- or variable-rate mortgages.
As local companies have announced more and more layoffs, and as the subprime lending crisis has resulted in more and more foreclosures, archdiocesan officials have heard many stories about hardships and about requests for assistance, and there has been discussion about how the Church should respond, Hovey continued.
He said he started out with the idea of just urging Michigan's bishops to issue a statement of concern, but then became convinced the Church needs to craft a more comprehensive response.
Hovey and Hyttinen worked with Michael McCallion of the archdiocesan Office of Pastoral Resources to develop the survey.
"We need to respond as a Church to this, but right now, we're waiting to see just what the needs are. Vatican II called upon us to observe the signs of the times and interpret them, so that's what we're doing," Hovey said.
The survey questionnaire sent out to parishes has 31 questions designed to clarify the volume and nature of requests for assistance, discern trends, and also learn how parishes are responding.
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