RE: Decline of religion
April 9, 2025 at 8:41 am
(This post was last modified: April 9, 2025 at 8:42 am by Fake Messiah.)
Albany diocese may close up to one-third of its churches, schools and offices
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany may close up to one-third of its buildings, due to a “financial and maintenance crisis,” Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger said in a letter sent to the community Monday.
The diocese includes 126 parish churches, as well as some offices and schools.
The diocese is in bankruptcy and was in mediation for the last year on how to settle claims regarding priests who are alleged to have sexually abused children.
Hundreds of accusers have brought claims of child sexual abuse committed by priests and others employed by the Albany diocese or its affiliated entities. The diocese has insurance, but in other cases an insurance company has argued that they do not have to pay for deliberate, criminal acts.
Settlements for sexual abuse “have something to do with it, but that’s not the only reason for money being low,” spokeswoman Kathy Barrans said. “We don’t have enough money to pay for all of the buildings and we don’t have people filling all the buildings. There’s fewer people in the pews. Donations are down.”
The diocese already announced that it is closing two schools at the end of this school year: All Saints Catholic Academy, one of its three K-8 schools in Albany, and Sacred Heart School in Troy.
https://www.timesunion.com/education/art...264682.php
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany may close up to one-third of its buildings, due to a “financial and maintenance crisis,” Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger said in a letter sent to the community Monday.
The diocese includes 126 parish churches, as well as some offices and schools.
The diocese is in bankruptcy and was in mediation for the last year on how to settle claims regarding priests who are alleged to have sexually abused children.
Hundreds of accusers have brought claims of child sexual abuse committed by priests and others employed by the Albany diocese or its affiliated entities. The diocese has insurance, but in other cases an insurance company has argued that they do not have to pay for deliberate, criminal acts.
Settlements for sexual abuse “have something to do with it, but that’s not the only reason for money being low,” spokeswoman Kathy Barrans said. “We don’t have enough money to pay for all of the buildings and we don’t have people filling all the buildings. There’s fewer people in the pews. Donations are down.”
The diocese already announced that it is closing two schools at the end of this school year: All Saints Catholic Academy, one of its three K-8 schools in Albany, and Sacred Heart School in Troy.
https://www.timesunion.com/education/art...264682.php
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
