Mastering the Business of Church

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Clergy Scandals Unbalance Church Books

While any religious group can benefit from better financial management, the issue is resonating strongly within the Catholic church as it faces the financial repercussions of recent sex abuse scandals involving clergy. Fraudulent financial reporting, such as the 2006 case in which a pastor in Darien, Conn., was sentenced to 37 months in prison for stealing $1.3 million from the church he led, is another reason for the recent urgency. According to a 2006 study by Villanova researchers, 85% of U.S. dioceses had detected embezzlement over the previous five years.

As a result, parishioners are demanding more financial transparency and institutional financial controls, which can be challenging in organizations where the same person who tallies donations from the collection basket and deposits them in the bank, for example, may also be the person who balances the checkbook, Zech says.

Duquesne's Administrative Focus

Duquesne's online curriculum helps church workers balance the many daily demands they face, including budget management, human resources, parish marketing and fund-raising, school administration, construction project management, and social outreach projects, says Dorothy Bassett, dean of Duquesne's School of Leadership & Professional Advancement. It also emphasizes the difference between civil law and canon law, the internal ecclesiastical law that governs the Roman Catholic Church, and how that difference plays out in scenarios involving church assets.

"One of the reasons we started the program…is the responsibility placed on these folks is just so incredible," says Bassett. "What you find now is more and more churches have laypeople handling everything but the actual church service. It is everything from soup to nuts and then some…."

Bassett says the program, which signed up a handful of students when it began offering classes in the fall, is slowly attracting the interest of church workers. The cost is $23,544, and applicants should have a bachelor's degree and either currently hold an administrative position at a church or parish or plan to pursue such a position. Non-Catholics are eligible to apply, though none have so far, reports Bassett. "If I had someone come in…from a synagogue or mosque or Hindu temple, I'd probably sit down…and work with them [to select] courses appropriate for them in terms of their day-to-day administration."

Fiscal Responsibility for a Higher Purpose

Concern over the complexity of financial issues led Marcia Wilske, the parish social ministry coordinator for Catholic Charities of Idaho, to apply to Villanova's program. She first learned about it from an ad in Commonweal, a Catholic magazine. Her interest was piqued because, after she becomes chancellor for the diocese in July, she'll work closely with the director of human resources and chief financial officer, providing supervision and overseeing salaries and budgets.

Wilske, who has previously worked as a director of religious education and a youth minister, has no formal business training and wants to feel comfortable in her new role. "There is that sense of responsibility that the money given goes to support the work of the church," she explains. "How do you maintain that responsibility and transparency so it's a fiscally sound operation?"

Directors of these programs hope the religious community's interest will spur more schools to offer such degrees and ultimately raise the standards of church management. Although only a few schools offer these programs now, Gregory Sobolweski, the director of Saint Mary's Institute in Pastoral Ministries, believes it's a step in the right direction: "The fact that the church [is asking] questions about how can we be good administrators [is] a fresh take on faith."

Damast is a reporter for BusinessWeek.com.