Philip Britton, an active member of his church for years, was forced to stay home from Mass since 2020 because of his declining health.
But sitting at home in front of his computer, he managed to bestow his diocese in Camden with a gift that thrilled Catholic church leaders.
The enterprising 85-year-old from Pennsville was searching on New Jersey’s website for unclaimed funds when he discovered now-defunct Catholic schools and churches with unclaimed property.
The retired Ph.D, who used to work in systems analysis, regularly logs onto the state’s unclaimed property database for fun, he said, and sometimes as a favor to friends who want to recover funds.
It was during a search for one friend that he discovered his former church, Queen of the Apostles in Pennsville, as well as the Diocese of Camden, had thousands of dollars on the list.
$40,000 in unclaimed funds
“I found cemeteries, parishes and churches that closed or merged and don’t exist anymore and a lot of them had unclaimed funds. I sent it all to the Diocese’s vicar general. We found out that it added up to about $40,000.”
“The Diocese was very happy, and very appreciative,” Britton said, adding that at first, church officials couldn’t believe the money was theirs. “I felt happy to help.”
The Camden Diocese, like other Catholic dioceses around the country, is suffering financial distress in the aftermath of clergy abuse lawsuits as well as a general decline in membership across faiths. In Camden’s case, the diocese filed for bankruptcy protection in 2020 and later agreed to pay $87.5 million to abuse survivors under a plan approved by a bankruptcy judge.
“Any money they get will help,” Britton said.
Britton remembers when newspapers would list unclaimed personal property. “I would always look on it for the names of people I knew. Unfortunately, nobody does that anymore.”
“It’s amazing to see the amount of unclaimed money that people don’t know about. It’s money that’s just sitting there doing nothing.”
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Religious organizations would seem to be fertile territory for such searches. U.S. churches have been merging or shuttering schools and parishes for years in the face of shrinking enrollments and a shortage of priests and nuns.
A search of the New Jersey unclaimed property website using the term “Catholic” yields numerous entries, including several for a Catholic cemetery in Newark, a high school in Oradell and a center in New Brunswick.
How to do a NJ unclaimed property search
New Jersey’s Unclaimed Property Administration (UPA) estimates that it’s safeguarding $6.3 billion in forgotten assets.
Unclaimed property includes uncashed checks, inactive stock and brokerage accounts and unclaimed safe deposit boxes. If it is left untouched for more than three years and a company cannot locate the owner, the property is turned over to the state.
In 2023, about 74,000 claims were filed in New Jersey with the Unclaimed Property Administration, and a record $202.95 million in assets was returned to the appropriate owners, according to the state Treasury Department.
There is no fee to search the database or to claim property on the state’s secure website. Anyone can search for their name to determine if their funds or property is being held. Once approved by New Jersey, the asset is returned to its rightful owner.
“Phillip Britton’s initiative to look up unclaimed property for his parish and then the diocese at large was another great example of Christian service, especially since the diocesan Catholic Charities office was one of the largest benefactors of this process,” said Michael Walsh, a spokesperson for the Camden Diocese. “The monies found for Catholic Charities will be used specifically to help those in need throughout South Jersey,”
“His act is also a great reminder to any individual and business to investigate the NJ.gov unclaimed property website.”
Deena Yellin covers religion for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to her work covering how the spiritual intersects with our daily lives, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
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