By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
As the Diocese of Honolulu’s chief finance officer, Lisa Sakamoto knows how much Hawaii’s parishes are hurting economically because of the coronavirus pandemic. Closed churches mean empty offertory baskets.
But her counsel to them does not involve cash-raising schemes or creative fundraisers. It’s more fundamental. The “worst hardship” caused by the pandemic is not economic, she suggested, but social and spiritual.
Sakamoto has been sharing her advice with anxious pastors and nervous parish business managers through frequent “webinars,” virtual meetings over the internet to help them with their money and personnel woes.
She tells parish leaders to concentrate on the parish’s primary purpose, to “serve others and provide spiritual nourishment.”
Church finances have their challenges, she said, but they are more complicated than the simple lack of collection cash flow. So she hesitates to propose simple solutions.
We must start out with the admission that “we are blessed,” she said. At this moment in time, among the blessings we have is an abundance of time and talent, even as our treasure momentarily wanes.
Sakamoto inadvertently provided an example of what she meant. Apologizing for calling late to the Hawaii Catholic Herald for this interview, she explained that she had just been on the phone with a woman whose husband had just died. The woman, unable to arrange a proper funeral, was in tears. Sakamoto could not help with the funeral, but she could listen and sympathize. The diocese’s head money person supplied what the moment needed and what anyone could provide, a compassionate ear.
Lisa Sakamoto, finance officer for the Diocese of Honolulu
Of course, you can’t pay parish employees or fix the church if you don’t have money. So hard decisions do have to be made. But first things first, she said.
The webinar presenters are made up of Sakamoto’s diocesan administrative services team from the chancery’s third-floor business offices.
Team member Diane Lamasao, the diocesan manager for financial and systems analysis, said the group’s intent is to “accompany and walk with our people during these unusual and tough times.”
Being present for the pastors “goes a long way,” she said. “Things are changing rapidly.”
“We want our pastors and business managers to know they don’t have to navigate through all this stuff alone,” she said. “We are all in this together.”
The meetings usually begin at noon with the Angelus prayer followed by one decade of the rosary.
The business part of the webinars begins with news and announcements. The team provides guidance on finances, human resources, risk management and other concerns. Participants are then given the opportunity to ask questions and share experiences.
Their latest challenge has been writing budgets for the upcoming fiscal year.
Some pastors, intimidated by subjects they never studied in the seminary, would rather just “crawl back into their rectories” until the crisis is over, Sakamoto said. That’s where a “lot of hand-holding” is needed.
She has told priests to release their “inner child” — to imagine solutions with the freedom of unjaded youth. It sometimes gets a laugh, but she is serious. “We’ve got to get out of the box,” she said. “We need to be fluid, accommodating.”
Dara Perreira, a primary webinar advisor in her capacity as diocesan human resources director, said parishes must plan for the “new normal.”
When parishes re-open for Mass, “we know that the experience will not look the same as pre-coronavirus,” she said.
“With that in mind, we are helping priests consider what resources they need to serve our faithful,” she said. “We know that parish offertory levels will be a concern, even when Mass returns. Therefore, we are assisting in providing options, ideas and opportunities for properly budgeting.”
“Health and safety is paramount and parishes are budgeted for this,” she said. The diocese has helped by procuring a vendor that will provide disinfectant and other sanitizing materials at a bulk rate.
Perreira said the webinars are promoting ways to face a shrinking parish offertory by encouraging “a call to the faithful for help.”
If the number of Masses increases to accommodate social distancing, parishes will need more ushers and more cleaners. She also suggested others be recruited for yardwork and other manual services.
Perhaps social volunteering is the new normal.
