Lead Message
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John Barrett, diocesan finance director, to retire
By Steve Neill
Of The Catholic Virginian
John Barrett, who has served as director of the diocesan Office of Finance the past 24 years, will be retiring June 30. A search for a successor to the position has been initiated.
“‘Why are you leaving now?’ people ask,” Mr. Barrett said. “It’s time for me to retire now,” he replied simply.
“When Bishop (Francis X.) DiLorenzo came in part of his plan was to institute a program that would audit parishes and Catholic schools to ensure financial transparency to the people.” This is done in the overwhelming majority of the dioceses in the United States. “Bishop DiLorenzo wanted to consolidate the oversight of school finances so the Office of Catholic Schools could concentrate on educational matters. We’re working as partners in this transition.” Mr. Barrett says he has worked well with both Bishop DiLorenzo the past two years and with his predecessor, Bishop Emeritus Walter F. Sullivan who hired him in 1981. “We’ve been blessed with two bishops who have given finance a high priority,” he said.
 Born in Richmond, John Barrett was the oldest of three children. He began first grade at St. Benedict School, but his father died when he was six. His newly widowed mother and younger brother and sister went to live with his maternal grandparents in the Church Hill neighborhood of Richmond’s East End. “Msgr. (James A.) Brennan gave my mother a job as a housekeeper and allowed her to come home every night so she could have supper with us,” Mr. Barrett said, pointing out that in those days most housekeepers had live-in jobs at Catholic rectories. After graduating from St. Patrick High School in 1948, John Barrett went to work as a clerk for the FBI in Washington. He then enlisted in the Marine Corps where he served from 1951 to 1954. “It was the thing to do,” he told The Catholic Virginian. “We were at war.”
After his stint with the Marines, Mr. Barrett returned to Richmond and worked again for the FBI. He attended night classes at then Richmond Professional Institute, now Virginia Commonwealth University, graduating with a degree in accounting. He went to work for the Internal Revenue Service as an agent from 1964 until 1972 when he took a job with a local CPA firm until 1979. “I was state deputy of the Virginia State Council of the Knights of Columbus from 1975 to 1977 and got elected to the board of directors of the Knights in 1976,” he said. “Then in 1979 I was appointed assistant Supreme Treasurer and moved to New Haven (headquarters of the national office) where I stayed until 1981.”
During a visit back to Richmond, Bishop Sullivan offered him a job as Director of Finance for the Diocese of Richmond. Mr. Barrett said Bishop Sullivan had gotten to know him in 1974 when he organized a reception in Monroe Park across from the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart after the bishop’s installation as 11th Bishop of Richmond July, 1974. “I wanted to return to Richmond and it was an opportunity to come back to my home town,” Mr. Barrett said.
Asked what were his high points and low points during his 24 and a half years with the diocese, Mr. Barrett grinned. “I’m the eternal Irish optimist, I don’t recall any low points,” he said. “I worked for two bishops who both endorsed a philosophy of fiscal responsibility and required strict financial accountability of the people’s money.”
Bishop Sullivan and Bishop DiLorenzo have different styles, he admitted, “but we continue to have strict budgetary constraints with an end towards financial transparency. “Some of the joys have been working with priests of the diocese,” he continued. “In their relationships with me, they’ve been candid and straightforward. “I’ve been blessed with an outstanding Diocesan Finance Council throughout the years where members have been competent and they take their responsibilities seriously. “We’ve had a very competent and dedicated staff in the finance office. “We really have had a wonderful spirit of cooperation among the offices of the Chancery. We are in the eighth year without a general increase in the non-personnel costs of the Chancery and yet they are still able to carry out their ministry and mission.” Mr. Barrett gave credit to the “dedicated oversight” of parish finance councils who he said closely follow diocesan norms.
As he prepared to complete four more months until he retires June 30, Mr. Barrett says there are changes coming in the Cathedraticum tax which is based on ordinary parish income and goes to the diocese to help pay operating costs. “We have done a study of the structure of the cathedraticum tax and we have received a recommendation from the Priests’ Council for an adjustment on that tax to fund the new diocesan offices that the bishop has instituted,” he said.
Asked about his plans upon retirement, Mr. Barrett replied, “Like most people, we (he and his wife, Gloria) are going to travel, spend more time with family and do different types of charitable endeavors.” Mr. Barrett, long a member of St. Paul parish in Richmond, is a lector there. 
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