Michael Digges, the executive director of administration and finance for the Archdiocese of Sydney, has announced his retirement at the end of the year.
He has worked with Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP since 2011, first in the Parramatta diocese and since 2014 in the Sydney Archdiocese.
He spoke with The Catholic Weekly recently about his long experience in church administration.
Perhaps “church stewardship” is a better word.
As ‘Light the Way’, the archdiocese’s recently published strategic plan points out, “Sustainability of resources and prudent stewardship of our temporal goods are essential to the continuation of the many works of the archdiocese.”
Digges began his career in corporate management. When he was headhunted for the Parramatta role, he was working as a group general manager in a large building products company.
There he developed high-level management skills, including the ability to recruit and nurture highly professional managers.
One of his achievements in the archdiocese, he believes, is recruiting “a competent team of professionals to assist him in running the material and administrative affairs of the church”.
Without a good team and adequate funding, the archbishop’s ambitious plans for evangelisation would be impossible, he says.
“Archbishop Fisher is very bold and ambitious. Many other bishops and business managers are much more cautious because ‘we can’t afford it, can’t do it.’
“I’ve been very aligned with him, and without good stewardship we wouldn’t even be talking about the possibility of doing the Eucharistic Congress, or all those different initiatives that we have,” he said.
One example is Sistine Chapel immersive exhibition experience now on display in St Mary’s Cathedral forecourt.
The major evangelisation and cultural outreach initiative is costly to build and stage, so it requires tickets sales to offset the cost.
Digges is particularly proud of the archdiocese’s first-ever strategic plan.
“A lot of people would say, what do you need that for? We know the strategic plan – it’s the Gospel, or the code of canon law – that’ll tell you what you need to do.’”
But Digges insists that the professional aims of growing revenue, optimising investments and assets, supporting parishes, investing in people, liaising with enablers, and ensuring compliance is not only good stewardship but necessary for evangelisation.
These are needed to ensure the long-term viability of ministries, parishes, schools, and charitable works across the archdiocese.
What were the highlights of his 12 years with the Sydney Archdiocese?
One of them has been working closely with Archbishop Fisher, he says.
Digges joined the archdiocese in November 2014. At the end of 2015, the archbishop fell ill with Guillain-Barré disease, a serious autoimmune disorder which left him almost completely paralysed. It took him months to recover.
Nonetheless, they continued to work closely together, even from his sick bed and rehab hospital.
“I’ve had a very harmonious, warm, relationship with him,” says Digges.
“It’s been the best of my working life by far to work with him as a boss, because he’s always been respectful of me and always listened carefully to the advice I have provided.”
But the job has also had huge challenges.
One was the collapse of Catholic Church Insurances after the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
The volume of potential claims was so great the company was forced to stop taking on new business.
Digges managed the process, avoided insolvency, and transitioned church institutions to external insurers.
Another was assisting the Wilcannia-Forbes diocese in western NSW.
By area, this is one of the largest dioceses in Australia, but was facing significant demographic and economic challenges, with resilient faith communities but few priests.
Part of the solution was appointing Digges as the financial administrator of the diocese. “It’s worked marvellously,” he said.
The Sydney Archdiocese injected some funds; Digges oversaw prudent investment in property and appointment of key personnel.
The diocese was set on the road towards sustainability.
“Now some people in the archdiocese and other commentators would say, it’s unsustainable, close it down, yadda yadda. [But] if we did that years ago, the word of God wouldn’t be preached in the bush. It’s as simple as that.”
Then there was Domus Australia, Cardinal George Pell’s signature project in Rome – a guest house and chapel for Australian pilgrims.
It opened in 2011, but by 2015 significant problems had already emerged.
Digges’ first day on the job was on a Tuesday in November 2014, and by Friday that week, he was on a plane to Rome to begin to sort things out.
“It was a mess, financially and organisationally,” he recalled.
“But the chapel was incredibly beautiful. And the place was lovely, and it was a great asset, but financially a huge drain. So that, for me, took an enormous amount of work. But now we have key, talented people directly managing Domus.
“Balancing the mission element and keeping it afloat financially is a constant challenge, because we want it to be mission-oriented.
“We want to have Australians go there to see the holy places, but we need people to pay a reasonable price for a quality pilgrim experience.”
Property development is one of a financial administrator’s weightiest responsibilities.
One of the biggest projects in the Digges era has been moving the archdiocese’s central offices from the Polding Centre on Liverpool Street in the Sydney CBD to 75 Elizabeth Street, a three-minute walk from the cathedral.
In the meantime there has been a three-year ‘holiday’ at the beautifully renovated St Martha’s in Leichhardt.
He and his team managed to extract the best value from the old site and buy the new site for a bargain, without the need for a loan.
Such financial stability, he says, is important for ensuring the archdiocese can continue supporting its ministries and future initiatives.
“We have put the finances of the archdiocese in extremely good shape,” he said.
What comes after retiring from his six-and-a-half-day a week job, apart from reducing his golf handicap from 26 to somewhere in the teens?
He plans to work a couple of days and spend time with his family and fixing stuff.
He describes himself as “a pretty good handyman”. “I’ve had to, with a big family,” he said. He and his wife Kathy have seven children and 13 grandchildren.
Digges says his family has kept him grounded despite his exhausting job.
“It’s helped me with not being carried away with my work. If I talk about my work at home too much, Kathy will say, ‘The archbishop is great. Now let’s talk about what’s going on in the family.”
His prayer and sacramental life, too, has supported him.
Digges is a member of Opus Dei, which helps people find holiness in everyday life.
“My prayer life is a cornerstone of my life, and it’s helped in my job, even before the archdiocese. It’s been a fundamental part of my life,” he explains.
His advice for his successor?
“Keep your feet on the ground, try to pray and go to Mass, maintain a good sense of humour, and be supportive of your people.
“Ensure you’re a good boss, because if you’re not, things will crumble underneath you.”
