No doubt everyone’s heard that the Archdiocesan Finance Council has given the go-ahead for Cardinal Law to consider bankruptcy for the archdiocese. Now it doesn’t mean that it’s definitely going to happen. It would be unprecedented if does. Has any American diocese ever declared bankruptcy and re-organized? Certainly, never one as large as this. It also raises interesting questions: What does it do to the separation of church and state if a federal bankruptcy judge gets a say in how the Catholic Church in Boston spends its money and does the work of the Gospel?
That’s all speculation, however. What I do know is that the archdiocese has announced the closing of the college seminary. The major seminary (think of it as the grad school that actually produces men ready for ordination) will stay open. But I think it’s significant that a major archdiocese is closing down a seminary like this. From what I understand, there are 25 current students there and the archdiocese will no longer accept applications to start studies there after Fall 2003. Interesting stuff to ruminate on.
