t eanc 0 VOL. 35, NO. 25
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Friday, June 21, 1991
FALL RIVER, MASS.
FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly
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ill Per Year
Bishops cut budget, hike programs, pay for 1993-1996
eNS photo
"Summer is nigh." Matt. 24:32
WASHINGTON (CNS) The U.S. bishops agreed to cut by about $1.1 million the general fund budget for their twin conferences, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops-U.S. Catholic Conference, in 1993, but allow for a 5 percent growth in programs, salaries and benefits from 1993 through 1996. The action came during a closed meeting of the bishops in St. Paul June 13-15. About 250 bishops attended the meeting. After a cut in 1993 in the perCatholic assessment charged each diocese, the assessment will rise annually through 1996, according to the plan adopted by the bishops. The assessments make up about 75 percent of the general fund. In turn, the general fund makes up about one-third of the NCCBUSCC budget, once fees and grants are factored in. The bishops' meeting was the culmination of the Conference Assessment Project, which; known by its acronym of CAP, started after the bishops in 1989 rejected a l-cent assessment increase. NCCB-USCC administrative operations will be cut IO percent in 1993, while a net cut of no more than 6 percent will take place in program offices. The cuts would have been 10 percent for both administrative and program offices, but the lower figure for program offices came about after bishops adopted a proposal by Auxiliary Bishop Edward J. O'Donnell of St. Louis, chairman of the USCC Communication Committee, to shift the $239,000 funding for the USCC Office for Film and Broadcasting from the general fund to the Catholic Communication Campaign collection. The bishops authorized the NCCB-USCC general secretariat to recommend how reductions will be achieved. Some program offices may suffer cuts greater than 6 percent, while others will get lesser cuts, said Father Dennis Schnurr, NCCB-USCC associate general secretary. Father Schnurr, who was at the meetingasa NCCB-USCC resource person, told Catholic News Service in a June 18 interview that initial proposals will first be advanced at the Aug. 5 meeting of the NCCB Committee on Priorities and Plans. The parameters of the 1993 budget are expected to be voted on by the bishops at their general meeting this November, Father Schnurr said. It would then be left to individual NCCB-USCC office direcTurn to Page 10