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“The Archbishop’s Council were conscious that practice varies but that many, if not most, of the parishes make their financial situation available to parishioners.”

This raised different issues.

First, the Council seemed relaxed about disregarding Canon Law and their own ‘particular norms’.

Second, their Procedures – signed off by the Archbishop’s predecessor – said that their Trustees “must ensure that parish accounts are presented annually to the faithful”. There's no indication of how or when they do this - but obviously they're missing some.

Third, a sample of 100 of their parish websites showed that five had made their financial situation available on-line – sometime in the previous five years.

Fast forward to 2019. A more informed draft of concerns and findings about the observance of Canon 1287.2 was sent to a senior member of the UK clergy. He replied: “The topic you have tackled is complex and, as you will know, concerns matters which are already under regular public scrutiny through annual audits and public reports to the Charity Commission.” That’s true of diocesan finances, but overlooks the need and right to have scrutiny at parish level.

The new variant of Berwickalism. The shifting shape of Canon 1287.2

As they interpret it, parishes are reposnabible. It's like in football management. The manager is accountable for the results... not the whole team.

There's no requirement for the parish to do any of this. There's

		Page 1 of Part 1 is a short review of personal interpretations of Canon 1287.2

		A diocesan Council, two finance heads, and a bishop's private secretary walk into a barrier
		For the closing words of Wilful Blindness - a litany of cautionary tales - Margaret Heffernan chose to say: "We make ourselves powerless when we choose not to know. But we give ourselves hope when we insist on looking... " The examples below are from the five emails or letters in the Project. They're offered as examples of a mindset among senior members of the Church in the UK. Whether they are representative of their colleagues is unknown. They might heed Heffernan's final words: "As all wisdom does, seeing starts with simple questions: what could I know, should I know, that I don't know? Just what am I missing here?" Is it actually Wishful Blindness - believing things to be as you wish for rather than as they are.


According to norms to be determined by particular law, administrators are to render an account to the faithful concerning the goods offered by the faithful to the Church. Nottingham Diocese 2021: “It is the Parish Priest’s responsibility to report on his administration to the Curia…this is performed through the annual financial return to the Finance Office (Canon 1287 s1). It is also the Parish Priest’s responsibility to report to the faithful (Canon 1287 s2) and this should also be done annually.”		“Canon 1287.2 is not a complicated directive and I cannot even begin to fathom why someone would want write an article on it.” Unprompted, this Bishop’s Private Secretary claimed 100% observance. “In case you were wondering, each parish currently, and ‘according to the norms to be determined by particular law’, present their accounts annually both to the Diocesan Financial Secretary and to their own Parish Communities through the duly appointed Finance Committee or Parish Treasurer.” Just what was he missing? First, though his diocese’s operating manual – their ‘norms determined’ – says reporting is down to ‘the parish’, Canon 1287.2 is not complicated: it’s the parish priest’s duty. It's the essential of accountability that you can see who has to do what. Spreading the duty among an unspecified congregation - who may not even be aware - isn't on. Second, a quick scan of the diocese’s dozens of active parish websites found that well fewer than 10% showed any sign of annual accounts or an annual parish meeting. So how did ne know - or the bishop – know annually that that all the accounts had been presented by someone? The other response was more modest in its claim.

“The Church authorities are not indifferent to the public concern for transparency and to how its understanding has evolved. The case of financial transparency is a good example. Zalbidea affirms that financial transparency is a novelty for the faithful, as before the code of canon law of 1983, a pastor’s obligation was to report only to the authority (typically the Bishop) but not to the lay faithful. Today every pastor has the obligation to report to the faithful how he uses the Church’s temporal goods” In: What kind of transparency for the Church? Proposing operational transparency for processes, solutions and decisions in the Catholic Church by Cristian Mendoza Ovando, Church, Communication and Culture 2020 www.tandfonline.com/toc/rchu20/5/2		“The Archbishop’s Council were conscious that practice varies but that many, if not most, of the parishes make their financial situation available to parishioners.” This raised different issues. First, the Council seemed relaxed about disregarding Canon Law and their own ‘particular norms’. Second, their Procedures – signed off by the Archbishop’s predecessor – said that their Trustees “must ensure that parish accounts are presented annually to the faithful”. There's no indication of how or when they do this - but obviously they're missing some. Third, a sample of 100 of their parish websites showed that five had made their financial situation available on-line – sometime in the previous five years. Fast forward to 2019. A more informed draft of concerns and findings about the observance of Canon 1287.2 was sent to a senior member of the UK clergy. He replied: “The topic you have tackled is complex and, as you will know, concerns matters which are already under regular public scrutiny through annual audits and public reports to the Charity Commission.” That’s true of diocesan finances, but overlooks the need and right to have scrutiny at parish level. The new variant of Berwickalism. The shifting shape of Canon 1287.2 As they interpret it, parishes are reposnabible. It's like in football management. The manager is accountable for the results... not the whole team. There's no requirement for the parish to do any of this. There's
		"There is a requirement for the parish to report its financial status both to the Bishop and to the faithful according to canon 1287. This is achieved in two ways; to the Bishop through the annual parish return... The second is by reporting to the parish which can take varied forms." This came in November 2021 from a senior member of the staff of a Bishop's Conference covering UK dioceses. He was given a full briefing on the key content of OpenBooks. So his answer could be taken as the official view of the Conference - or just a personal interpretation. You can see that once again the interpretation is that Canon 1287.2 is down to the parish. Amd conflating the two parts of 1287 doesn't help. What are the varied forms? "In my last parish, we published the parish account each year and held a parish meeting so that parishioners could interrogate the expenditure of the last year and look at the expected income/expenditure for the incoming accounting period. This meeting was purposeful and assisted me greatly as parish priest in our pastoral planning. The publication of accounts is required, but the means is not specified, and I would regard this way of presentation by meeting - which relates directly to those who give in the parish as part of the community - is an acceptable way of presenting the stewardship of the temporal goods of the parish." However, OpenBooks showed that his legacy had not lasted in his parish. In any case, enthusiasm for AGMs may be limited. And during the pandemic they couldn't take place anyway. Parish websites are another means, but not all parishes have a website and so making this a compulsory way of publishing accounts would, in my opinion, not work." OpenBooks found that the great majority - approaching 90% - of parishes are covered by a website. And in one diocese, all the accounts for the all the parishes were posted.
		At parish level, few reports are shown - sporadic. No minuites. So the suggestion for bishiops is to update their interpretation. For dioceses looking to enhance their financial transparency, there are some simple measures fixed in a few days. Make sure your annual accounts are posted; give information on your finance council members and their qualifications for the post; post your norms for Canon 1287.2
		Canon 1287.2 is the focus of the Project. This Canon requires parish priests to provide information on what has happened to the giving. When and how are left to the diocese. The page also has information on how dioceses and bishops' conferences interpret Canon 1287.2. This section includes the histiry, anomolies in interpretation, and other information.
		Author and authority