Pittsburgh diocese cutting staff to avoid deficit

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh is preparing to lay off workers to avoid a $2.3 million deficit for the 2012-13 fiscal year.

A letter to the diocesan staff from the Rev. Ronald Lengwin, the vicar general, said $1 million has already been saved by 15 employees who have retired, resigned or been reassigned. Still, more of the diocese’s 180 clergy and lay employees may have to be laid off, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Tuesday .

Lengwin wouldn’t specify other possible cuts, because the Diocesan Finance Council must still review those possibilities on Sept. 6.

“Unfortunately, a significant deficit remains,” Lengwin said. Workers won’t get annual bonuses and the diocese “will still face the necessity of additional staff reductions,” he said.