Local Catholics voice concern over diocese plan

"I'm devastated over the whole thing," an Oceanside parishioner said of the Rockville Centre Diocese's plan to offer buyout packages to 1,800 of its 6,000 employees in an effort to cut expenses. The voluntary separation package includes money and a few months of continued health insurance coverage. If enough employees decline the offer, the diocese has told them it will resort to more traditional measures — including layoffs.

"I can't even imagine how we're going to function the way we currently function if they take the package," she said, "and they've been advised it's a good idea to take it."

The parishioner, who asked not to be identified, said she has been talking to "dozens" of people from parishes in many communities on Long Island who share her concerns. Priests are already stretched thin, she said, presiding over many Masses each weekend, and they rely on paid staff, ministers and outreach coordinators to lead volunteers who help them in their work with parishioners.

Many of these staff members, who are not highly paid, she explained, are driven by a spiritual calling to help, along with a deep dedication to the church. Nonetheless, they need salaries to live on, and if they leave, she said, "There will be a terrible void for the priests that have a relationship with their staff people and depend on them to minister to the people. We fear that if there aren't enough people to run the parishes, they'll eventually close them.

"It's beyond me," she continued, "that they could go and offer this voluntary separation program without doing it in phases over a couple of years. The deficit has existed for over a decade — where were they? Why didn't they put a plan in place?

"What will this do to Long Island?" she added, and then predicted that the loss of jobs would have a domino effect.