Oslo-Catholics accepts cuts of 40 million kroner in government funding

Lisa Wade, Oslo Catholic diocese.Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB scanpix

The Oslo Catholic Diocese has accepted cuts of 40 million kroner in government funding  over the next five years. The amount corresponds to the amount of the government funding for the church that the state believes was unwarranted.

This takes place after the Culture Ministry last week declined the diocesan appeal for the repayment schedule of 40 million kroner of government funding. The diocese has to accept cuts in government funding of 8 million kroner annually over the next five years, according to Vårt Land.
– While we wait for the verdict of the court, we will proceed according to the plan for calculating the amount of funding for us in the upcoming years, including the cuts decided upon,  put forward by the  Ministry of Culture,  administrative manager Lisa Wade in Oslo Catholic diocese says in a statement.
The diocese has taken the state to court because it disagrees with the Ministry of Culture’s conclusion that part of the state aid which was disbursed between 2011 and 2014 were based on a larger number of members registered than the actual members of the Diocese. The Ministry of Culture believes that the large number of members registered were a result of extensive and illegal membership registration, which in turn formed the basis for calculating the amount of government funding.
According to Dagbladet, the diocese looked in the telephone directory for people with names of  countries with a large number of catholics, registered them as members and and included them in the membership lists which was used for deciding the amount of money paid in government funding.

 

Source: NTB scanpix  / Norway Today