We Are Our Mother of Perpetual Help Parish

CNA Staff, May 20, 2025 / 16:28 pm (CNA).

The Catholic University of America (CUA) announced Monday that it has eliminated 7% of its workforce in its final step to address the university’s structural deficit.

According to CUA — one of two pontifical universities in the U.S. and the only institution of higher education founded by the U.S. bishops — 66 active staff positions were eliminated as an unfortunate but “essential” part of the university’s efforts to balance its budget, which the university announced last year was at a deficit of $30 million. 

The Washington, D.C.-based institution took several steps to reduce its annual operating budget — cutting operational costs, launching several new “revenue-generating” academic programs, offering voluntary separation packages to some faculty, and eliminating some staff positions, according to the Monday announcement by university president Peter Kilpatrick.

At the end of 2024, the university president had announced that due to rising costs and declining enrollment revenue, the university’s annual budget faced a $30 million deficit and needed to be cut by 10%.

In a statement shared with CNA, the university said the cuts were the final part of the plan to balance the budget, which could not be done “without also eliminating staff positions.”

“Originally announced last October, the plan required adjusting the university’s operating budget by approximately 10% ($30 million), which included operational budget reductions, the launch of several new revenue-generating academic programs, and staffing adjustments,” the statement continued.

Completing the “comprehensive financial resiliency plan” places the university “on solid financial footing for the first time in years,” according to the statement. 

The university said it is prioritizing “supporting affected employees” through “enhanced severance packages and outplacement services.” 

Staff members whose positions were cut will have a monthlong paid leave with full benefits.

“For our departing colleagues, we are providing comprehensive transition support, which includes an enhanced severance package made possible in part through the compassionate support of our dedicated donors,” Kilpatrick said in the announcement.

“Each person affected has helped shape our institution and contributed to our mission in meaningful ways,” he continued.

Kilpatrick noted that “this news affects our entire community” and pledged to provide support.

“For those directly affected, this represents a significant personal and professional change. For remaining faculty and staff, this may bring feelings of uncertainty and concern for colleagues,” Kilpatrick said. “Please know that we are committed to providing support for all members of our university family during this challenging time.”

Amid these challenges, Kilpatrick is looking ahead to prioritize the university’s mission while “on solid financial ground.”

“Now we can channel our energy toward strengthening our academic programs, enhancing the student experience, and fulfilling our founding mission to give to the nation, the Church, and the world its very best citizens — our graduates.”

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 20, 2025 / 15:20 pm (CNA).

The Archdiocese of Baltimore has been accused of defying a Vatican order after allegedly refusing to reopen a Maryland parish despite a letter from the Holy See halting its closure. 

In the spring of 2024 Archbishop William Lori announced the “difficult” decision to merge parishes in Baltimore and surrounding suburbs as part of the archdiocesan “Seek the City to Come” initiative. Among the parishes slated for closure was St. Clare in Essex.

Several St. Clare parishioners who disagreed with the plan sought assistance from Save Rome of the West, an organization that offers consulting services “to aid in the preservation and maintenance of Catholic churches and parishes.”

Group co-founders Jason Bolte and Brody Hale helped parishioner Barbara Pivonski write and send a formal letter to the Vatican in October 2024 appealing Lori’s plan and requesting that the church reopen. 

In February they received a letter from Cardinal Lazzaro You Heung-sik, prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy, stating that the “requested suspension” of the “extinctive merger” was “granted for the duration of the recourse.”

Bolte, Hale, and Pivonski believed the response from the Vatican approved the reopening of St. Clare while the appeal was under review, but the archdiocese disputed that interpretation. Diane Barr, a canonical consultant to the archbishop’s office, told parishioners in a letter that the suspension only meant that the church property could not be sold.

Archdiocesan spokesman Christian Kendzierski, meanwhile, told CNA that the archdiocese “is faithfully following the requirements included in the letter received from the Dicastery for Clergy.” 

The parish “remains open for baptisms, weddings, and funerals,” he said. 

“When a decree is suspended, it means that the actions which it orders, all of them, are suspended,” Hale, an attorney, told CNA. Yet “the Archdiocese of Baltimore … has refused to do that.”

Hale said if the Dicastery for the Clergy “wishe[d] to only suspend part of the decree, or some aspect of it, it would have stated as much.”

The lawyer said prior to February he had “never seen a single parish suspension issued by the Dicastery for Clergy,” and now he has witnessed more than a dozen. 

More than 12 parishes in the Diocese of Buffalo in New York similarly appealed a diocesan restructuring plan to the Vatican, asking that their churches stay open. The Vatican granted those requests and the Buffalo Diocese allowed them to remain open while the appeals were evaluated.

“It’s very unfortunate to me that the Archdiocese of Baltimore has taken this position,” Hale said, arguing that the archdiocese “deprived these good people of being able to celebrate Holy Week in their parish” and “deprived them of three months of parish life.”

Pivonski told CNA that St. Clare was “extremely active” prior to the closure. 

The parish is located in a high-poverty area, she said, and catered to the poor and homeless through frequent food donations. It was also working with pregnancy centers. 

A hearing on the matter was postponed due to Vatican departments shutting down after Pope Francis’ death. 

The case will be “presented to the Dicastery for Clergy as soon as it’s able to hear the matter,” Hale said.

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