Finance and Pastoral Councils’ Update to Parish

“At a recent joint meeting of our Parish Pastoral and Finance Councils we reviewed a report on the status of the parish. At the Masses during Pentecost weekend, we are sharing these updates with you in person, and then through other communication channels during the week.

Our parish weathered Covid because of YOU … the wonderful faith and commitment of our parishioners. You stayed connected and even sent in your support when you couldn’t be at Mass in person. You continued to be a vital part our parish community.
Many, many thanks!  In addition, we received about $100K through the PPP (Payroll Protection Program) government emergency assistance over two years. Without your efforts and that support we would have crashed.

That’s the good news…

The not-so-good? Our regular offertory income continues its long-term decreasing trend. Most weeks we don’t make the budget figure we need … you see it in the bulletin report each week. It is not a sustainable situation. We continue functioning only because of a bare-bones budget, deferred upkeep and maintenance, special gifts from you and others, God’s grace, and some degree of plain old luck. Yet, we can’t responsibly continue to operate this way. Regular expenses – like oil, snow removal, insurances, and more – will rise next year by significant amounts. Some building needs cannot be put off any longer.

Is there a “safety net”?

It’s important for you to know that our only “safety net” is our parish savings account. At the current rate, it can only cover us for about 2 more years .

The building endowment money can’t be used for regular operating expenses. The diocese does not “bail out” parishes who can’t pay their bills. If funds are borrowed, they must be repaid with interest. Every parish stands or falls on its own resources
That means it is up to us. All of us.

For our part, we are now preparing to take a number of steps to change this financial outlook:

First, we are already in the process of building our parish programs. A vibrant community attracts people and enables us to carry out our mission. It’s why the parish is here in the first place! We are seeing some positive results already, with new people coming to us sharing their gifts and talents.

Also, we will have our building study results in the next few weeks. That will help us as a parish and school determine what steps we need to take with our two sets of buildings. No decisions have been made at this time……we need the results of the study to do that. You will hear from us again as this process continues to unfold. We will keep this conversation going along each step of the way.

And for YOUR part? Keep being the dedicated, committed, giving parish family you’ve been. Get involved. Participate. Share your ideas. Offer support as generously as possible.

It’s up to all of US.
Change is inevitable. If we refuse to change, we will likely not have a strong or long future. So let’s get to work, together, making the changes necessary to continue the work of this vibrant parish.”