The Diocese of Youngstown Finance Council
About the Diocese of Youngstown Finance Council
Canon law 492 mandates that all Catholic dioceses establish a Diocesan Finance Council (DFC) over which the diocesan bishop or his delegate presides. Canon law further requires that the bishop appoint at least three members of the Christian faithful to the DFC for five-year terms who are experts in finance and civil law.
The Diocese of Youngstown DFC holds meetings four times per year. These meetings are attended by the Bishop, the Vicar General, CFO, Chairman, appointed religious DFC members, and lay DFC members of outstanding integrity appointed by the Bishop who are experts in finance and civil law. Members are appointed to five-year terms and serve no more than two consecutive terms.
The DFC is responsible for the preparation of the diocesan budget as to income and expenses for the year and examines an account of revenues and expenses at the end of the year. The Bishop or his delegate presents a Statement of Income & Expenses and balance sheet to the DFC for all entities under his jurisdiction after the close of each year.
DFC Membership
- Email: JTJ@SSB-CPA.com
- Bio: Ms. Jasinski is the principal in charge of the accounting and assurance services team at Schroedel, Scullin & Bestic, LLC. She is a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) enabling her to provide litigation support and forensic accounting services for individuals and businesses, which includes providing an expert opinion in court cases. Ms. Jasinski regularly speaks at conferences and events on identity theft and fraud. She has extensive experience in accounting and business consulting. Ms. Jasinski is also a Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) and, with this expertise, she provides value-added services for her closely held business clients, including assistance with financing and tax and succession planning. She services a variety of industries, including manufacturing, insurance, distribution and wholesale and exempt organizations. Ms. Jasinski is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountants, where she serves on the Accounting and Auditing Committee, and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. She is a member of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, where she serves on the Athena Committee. Ms. Jasinski also serves as the Council Chair for the Finance Council of the Diocese of Youngstown and the YSU Penguin Club Board of Trustees and Finance Committee. She is a 2021 YSU Outstanding Business Alumna.
- Term: July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2027
- Email: JBryan@hendersoncovington.com
- Bio: Mr. Bryan has been an attorney since 1991 and is a member of the Ohio State and Mahoning County Bar Associations, currently serving the local bar on the attorney fee dispute committee. He was an adjunct professor of Business Law and Ethics at Kent State University for ten years, and he is active in many community organizations, including the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley (Board Chair 2016-17), the Youngstown Lions Club, Steel Valley Homes for Youth, and the Youngstown Air Reserve Base Community Council. In 2005 he was recognized as one of the top five young professionals in the Mahoning Valley.
- Term: July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2027
- Email: Ra.hoffman@sbcglobal.net
- Bio: Mr. Hoffman served as the Chief Financial Officer for the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown for 14 years (1995-2008). Prior to that, he was a Financial Executive at Fisher-Price Toys for 26 years (1968-1993). Mr. Hoffman has been married to his wife, Mary Ellen for 58 years, and has five children and eight grandchildren.
- Term: July 1, 2020 – June 30, 2025
- Email: PKelly@youngstowndiocese.org
- Bio: Mr. Kelly was appointed Chief Financial Officer of the Diocese of Youngstown by Bishop George V. Murry, SJ, in December of 2008. He is responsible for oversight of all financial, accounting, investment, employee benefits, risk management and property transactions. Mr. Kelly is a certified public accountant, and a chartered financial analyst.
- Term: Ex-Officio Member
The Most Reverend David J. Bonnar was born on February 5, 1962 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the fourth of five children to George and Mary Bernadette (Wilson) Bonnar, both of whom are deceased. He attended Saint Gabriel of the Sorrowful Virgin School and graduated from Seton-LaSalle High School. He received a bachelor degree in Social Communications from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and studied at the Pontifical North American College in Rome receiving a Bachelor in Sacred Theology (STB) in 1987 from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Pittsburgh on July 23, 1988.
After ordination, Bishop Bonnar served as parochial vicar at Saint Vitus Parish, New Castle; Saint Rosalia Parish, Greenfield; and Saint Thomas More Parish, Bethel Park. While at Saint Rosalia Parish, he also served as chaplain at Central Catholic High School. In 1997, he was named Director of Vocations, Director of the Pre-Ordination program, Director of the Permanent Diaconate program and Rector of Saint Paul Seminary in Pittsburgh where he served until 2002. From 2002 to 2007, he served as pastor of Saint Bartholomew Parish in Penn Hills. In 2007, Bishop Bonnar was named Secretary for Parish Life and Leadership. During this time, he also served as Delegate for Clergy (2007) and Episcopal Vicar for Clergy (2007-2009). In 2009, Bishop Bonnar was appointed pastor of Saint Bernard Parish, Mount Lebanon and from 2018 also served as administrator of Our Lady of Grace Parish, Scott Township. In 2020, he was named pastor of Saint Aidan Parish, Wexford. On November 17, 2020, His Holiness Pope Francis appointed him the sixth Bishop of Youngstown. Bishop David J. Bonnar was installed as the sixth Bishop of the Diocese of Youngstown on January 12, 2021. He succeeded Bishop George V. Murry, S.J. who passed away on June 5, 2020.
In addition to his ministerial assignments, Bishop Bonnar has also served on the Diocese of Pittsburgh Post-Ordination Board, Clergy Personnel Board, Seminary Admissions Board, Chair of the Permanent Diaconate Admissions Board, Chair of the Priestly Formation Board, and Chair of the Priesthood Candidate Admission Board. Since 2014, Bishop Bonnar has been the editor of The Priest magazine and in 2020 was appointed a member of the National Advisory Board for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. For 12 years Bishop Bonnar was also chaplain to the NFL Pittsburgh Steelers professional football team.
Shortly after his ordination and installation as Bishop of Youngstown, Bishop Bonnar released a Pastoral Letter, Testify to the Light, offering five priorities for the diocesan Church’s journey together.
Very Rev. Msgr. John Zuraw, J.C.L. is a canon lawyer and serves as Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia. Additional assignments:
- Pastor, St. Charles Borromeo Parish (Boardman)
- Pastor, St. Luke Parish (Boardman)
- Term: July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2027
Assignments:
- Pastor, St. Michael Parish (Canfield)
- Vicar for Missionary Discipleship
- Diocesan Director of Development and Stewardship
- Term: July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2027
- Email: Greg@DiNarda.com
- Term: November 1, 2023 – October 31, 2028
- Bio: Mr. DiNarda has been in the financial services industry with over 30 years of experience. He spent the first 17 years with Youngstown based, Butler Wick & Co. and in 2007 transitioned to Merrill where he is currently First Vice President and a senior partner with RCD Wealth Management. RCD Wealth Management was recently recognized on the 2024 Forbes “Best-in-State Wealth Management Teams” list, published January 2024. Mr. DiNarda is a Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor, CRPC™ as well as a Certified Plan Fiduciary Advisor, CPFA® and advises a diverse clientele, including active and retired business executive, engineers, physicians, and multi-generational families helping them grow, preserve and transfer their wealth more effectively. Mr. DiNarda has been involved in the Greater Stark County community for many years. He currently serves on the board of the Louisville Community Foundation and is the Finance Council Chair for St. Louis and Sacred Heart of Mary Parishes. He also served as President of the Louisville Chamber of Commerce, Treasurer of the Canton Museum of Art among many others. He is a recipient of Louisville’s Citizen of the Year and a graduate of Leadership Stark County.
Canon Law Regarding the DFC and Acts of Extraordinary Administration
§1. In every diocese a Finance council is to be established, over which the diocesan bishop himself or his delegate presides and which consists of at least three members of the Christian faithful truly expert in Financial affairs and civil law, outstanding in integrity, and appointed by the bishop.
§2. Members of the Finance council are to be appointed for five years, but at the end of this period they can be appointed for other five-year terms.
§3. Persons who are related to the bishop up to the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity are excluded from the Finance council.
In addition to the functions entrusted to it in Book V, The Temporal Goods of the Church, the Finance council prepares each year, according to the directions of the diocesan bishop, a budget of the income and expenditures which are foreseen for the entire governance of the diocese in the coming year, and at the end of the year examines an account of the revenues and expenses.
§1. In every diocese, after having heard the college of consultors and the Finance council, the bishop is to appoint a Finance officer who is truly expert in financial affairs and absolutely distinguished for honesty.
§2. The Finance officer is to be appointed for a five-year term but can be appointed for other five-year terms at the end of this period. The finance officer is not to be removed while in this function except for a grave cause to be assessed by the bishop after he has heard the college of consultors and the Finance council.
§3. It is for the Finance officer to administer the goods of the diocese under the authority of the bishop in accord with the budget determined by the Finance council and, from the income of the diocese, to meet expenses which the bishop or others designated by him have legitimately authorized.
§4. At the end of the year, the Finance officer must render an account of receipts and expenditures to the Finance council.
By virtue of his primacy of governance, the Roman Pontiff is the supreme administrator and steward of all ecclesiastical goods.
§1. Each diocese is to have a special institute which is to collect goods or offerings for the purpose of providing, according to the norm of Canon 281, for the support of clerics who offer service for the benefit of the diocese, unless provision is made for them in another way.
§2. Where social provision for the benefit of clergy has not yet been suitably arranged, the conference of bishops is to take care that there is an institute which provides sufficiently for the social security of clerics.
§3. Insofar as necessary, each diocese is to establish a common fund through which bishops are able to satisfy obligations towards other persons who serve the Church and meet the various needs of the diocese and through which the richer dioceses can also assist the poorer ones.
§4. According to different local circumstances, the purposes mentioned in §§2 and 3 can be obtained more suitably through a federation of diocesan institutes, through a cooperative endeavor, or even through an appropriate association established for various dioceses or for the entire territory of the conference of bishops.
§5. If possible, these institutes are to be established in such a way that they also have recognition in civil law.
An aggregate of goods which come from different dioceses is administered according to the norms appropriately agreed upon by the bishops concerned.
§1. It is for the ordinary to exercise careful vigilance over the administration of all the goods which belong to public juridic persons subject to him, without prejudice to legitimate titles which attribute more significant rights to him.
§2. With due regard for rights, legitimate customs, and circumstances, ordinaries are to take care of the ordering of the entire matter of the administration of ecclesiastical goods by issuing special instructions within the limits of universal and particular law.
The diocesan bishop must hear the finance council and college of consultors to place acts of administration which are more important in light of the economic condition of the diocese. In addition to the cases specially expressed in universal law or the charter of a foundation, however, he needs the consent of the finance council and of the college of consultors to place acts of extraordinary administration. It is for the conference of bishops to define which acts are to be considered of extraordinary administration.
In addition to the functions mentioned in Canons 494, §3 and §4, the diocesan bishop can entrust to the finance officer the functions mentioned in Canons 1276, §1 and 1279, §2.
§1. The administration of ecclesiastical goods pertains to the one who immediately governs the person to which the goods belong unless particular law, statutes, or legitimate custom determine otherwise and without prejudice to the right of the ordinary to intervene in case of negligence by an administrator.
§2. In the administration of the goods of a public juridic person which does not have its own administrators by law, the charter of the foundation, or its own statutes, the ordinary to whom it is subject is to appoint suitable persons for three years; the same persons can be reappointed by the ordinary.
Each juridic person is to have its own finance council or at least two counselors who, according to the norm of the statutes, are to assist the administrator in fulfilling his or her function.
§1. Without prejudice to the prescripts of the statutes, administrators invalidly place acts which exceed the limits and manner of ordinary administration unless they have first obtained a written faculty from the ordinary.
§2. The statutes are to define the acts which exceed the limit and manner of ordinary administration; if the statutes are silent in this regard, however, the diocesan bishop is competent to determine such acts for the persons subject to him, after having heard the finance council.
§3. Unless and to the extent that it is to its own advantage, a juridic person is not bound to answer for acts invalidly placed by its administrators. A juridic person itself, however, will answer for acts illegitimately but validly placed by its administrators, without prejudice to its right of action or recourse against the administrators who have damaged it.
Acts of Extraordinary Administration
Acts of Extraordinary Administration, as set forth in Canon law 1277 and 1292, refer to occasions wherein the Bishop for the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown must get approval from the DFC and the College of Consultors before acting. The Bishop for the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown fully complies with Canon law 1277 and 1292. In accord with Canon 1277 the following are considered to be Acts of Extraordinary Administration:
- Initiating a program of financing by the issuance of instruments such as bonds, annuities, mortgages or bank debt in excess of the minimum amount set in accord with canon 1292, §1. This is $3,500,000 for the Diocese of Youngstown.
- Resolving an individual or aggregate claim(s) by financial settlement in excess of the minimum amount set in accord with canon 1292, §1. This is $3,500,000 for the Diocese of Youngstown.
- Engaging in the regular management or operation of a trade or business that is not substantially related to the performance of the religious, spiritual, educational or charitable purposes of the Church, for the purpose of generating income to carry on such activities. This is $250,000 for the Diocese of Youngstown.
- Entering into any financial transaction or contractual agreement, the terms of which address matters involving an actual or potential conflict of interest for the diocesan bishop, auxiliary bishop(s), vicar(s) general, episcopal vicar(s), or diocesan finance officer. This is $250,000 for the Diocese of Youngstown.