Dear Friends of the Diocese of Lincoln,
Through your continued generosity to our parishes, schools and ministries, the Diocese of Lincoln remains in solid financial health. We are grateful to you, our lay faithful, as well as our priests and religious, who have collectively built-up and sustained our parishes, schools, and institutions.
The financial information presented in this report is limited to The Catholic Bishop of Lincoln (CBL/Chancery) and does not include individual parishes, missions, schools, and other related entities, which are organized as separate nonprofit organizations and operated separately from CBL and report directly to their parishioners.
This report presents the financial results for fiscal year 2024 as well as an update on diocesan-wide appeal efforts. CBL consists of various offices created to support parishes, schools, and ministries, organize events, monitor activities, and coordinate efforts. The activities of the Chancery are primarily funded by parish assessments, contributions, and program service fees.
Detailed in the report:
- Net Assets for operations increased $1.6M. This increase mostly relates to specific programs and will be reserved to offset future expenses in those same programs. The most notable increases are in the following areas:
> Positive insurance claims experience ended with $475K in unspent premiums. This amount will be used to offset 2025 premium increases.
> Pandemic era grants contributed to $300K in net income for the education and educational technology departments. These savings will be used to offset rising software maintenance fees in future years so that the education and technology fees charged to schools can be tempered.
> Several old parish debts were recovered leading to income of $470K. This one-time source will be held to allow for flexibility in Diocese and parish matters.
> The Diocese also received an unrestricted estate gift of $372K that is being utilized in fiscal year 2025 for deferred property maintenance and software upgrades.
- The Good Shepherd Scholarship program continues to succeed and has completed its fifth year. This initiative seeks to ensure that Catholic education in the Diocese of Lincoln is available to any student by providing tuition assistance to families in need. In 2024, the Diocese awarded $3,100,000 of scholarships for tuition and fees.
- CBL coordinates shared insurance plans for Diocesan parishes, schools and institutions, covering health insurance and property/casualty, allowing efficiencies through economies of scale. While the diocese is comprised of numerous entities, combining our resources to participate in these plans lowers costs for individual parishes and other participants.
- Investment gains on cash, investments, and endowment funds were in line with the overall market conditions, increasing net assets by $4.4M. The current returns are largely on funds designated for specific purposes including vocations and education and the strong investment results help bolster the values of funds and endowments that distribute funds to support our ministries. Future market volatility could negatively impact these gains.
- An independent actuarial study of the priests’ pension plan showed that despite a contribution of $900K, the funded status decreased from 99% funded to 97% funded, leading to an increase of $800K in the pension liability. The Diocese will continue to contribute regularly to the plan as we have in the past, and we will also monitor the results so that we may increase contributions if necessary.
We are grateful for the leadership, advice and counsel of our Diocesan Finance Council. Together, we will work to continue to prudently and efficiently support parishes, schools and other diocesan institutions as they minister to the people of God in the Diocese of Lincoln.
Sincerely,
Tracy Lockwood,
Chief Financial Officer
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Glossary of Terms
Statement of Financial Position:
Amounts due to parishes and other diocesan entities: These are primarily rebates the Charity and Stewardship Appeal that are payable to parishes.
Loans receivable, net: Loans issued by the Chancery to parishes or schools. These loans are from the Chancery directly and not from the Lincoln Diocesan Investment and Loan Trust.
Priest pension: The unfunded liability for the priest retirement plan. It is the difference between the actuarial accrued pension liability and valuation of pension assets.
Statement of Activities:
Operating revenue and support
Operational Assessments: Annual contribution from parish collections to the centralized ministries and services of the diocese, St. John Vianney Association for priest retirement and the Southern Nebraska Register.
Contributions: Includes unrestricted and restricted donations to CBL from generous benefactors.
Program revenue: Funds received in fees for programs, retreats, etc.
Operating expenses
Family life and discipleship: Includes ministries of religious education and formation of children and young adults in addition to providing programs to strengthen and support family life. Programs include but are not limited to Hispanic ministry, hospital and nursing home ministries, prison chaplaincy and pro-life programs. Diocesan communications which oversees the publication of the Southern Nebraska Register, media relations, Diocesan website content and video and audio productions.
Education: Expenses of the Diocesan Catholic Education office including the Education Technology department which collectively supports the Catholic elementary and high schools of the diocese by providing equipment, guidelines, and standards for school software, hardware, connectivity, security, safety, technical support and training for staff and students.
St. John Vianney: Retirement, medical and other assistance for the care of our priests.
Vocations: Funds the education of seminarians, and provides opportunities for discernment to priesthood and religious life.
Insurance: The Diocese administers the health care insurance plan and property and liability insurance program for all Diocesan employees, parishes, schools and related ecclesiastical entities. The expense line represents premium, claim and other expenses related to these shared service plans.
General and administrative: The offices that coordinate the financial, accounting, property maintenance, and information technology of the Diocese and provides financial services to parishes by assisting with budgeting, financial management, accounting and payroll services.
Stewardship and development: Expenses related to fundraising and to managing diocesan appeals and campaigns including Charity and Stewardship Appeal and Bishop’s Appeal for Vocations. Additionally, this office coordinates the use of a standard church management platform for parishes.
Other changes in net assets
Priest pension: The combination of benefits paid to retired priests and the change in the present value of funds required to provide retirement benefits in the future.
