Parish Finances
We had a Family Finance Council meeting last weekend, and things are not particularly rosy. We are currently experiencing a county-wide deficit of $116,000 (4.4% of total expected income), and that will increase as the year finishes out.
When I am reviewing financial metrics, the number that matters the most is year-over-year giving. In order for our parishes to maintain current services, our giving has to increase at the inflationary rate each year, otherwise we are shrinking. And we have to outperform inflation if we want to grow. I’ll use the most up-to-date numbers that include the entire county (some churches update their numbers faster than others).
- YTD giving July 01, 2023 – February 18, 2024: $1,663,807.19
- YTD giving July 01, 2024 – February 18, 2025: $1,668,694.92
- Year-over-Year Increase: 0.294%
- 2024 Inflation Rate: 1.9%
So about $27,000 of our deficit through February is due to underperforming inflation. The rest is due to some costs (construction, salaries, benefits) rising faster than the inflation rate and to regional staff being more expensive than our previous local staff model.
It is for this reason that I emphasized so heavily in the Fall the percentage-based giving model. For most working people, their salaries increase year-over-year, ideally keeping pace with inflation. If we think about giving a percentage of salary to the Church, the inflation problem takes care of itself, because when we get a raise, the Church gets a raise. But if we think in discrete amounts (“I’ll give $20/week or $100/month”) that number will often stagnate and the church falls financially behind.
Elizabeth Ames (our Regional Director of Finance) and I will work with our Finance Councils to try to publish more numbers and information so that you can better understand parish finances and how things are structured under Partners.
School Support
Every parish is required by the Archdiocese to support its local Catholic elementary school. A few years ago, as Pastor of Assumption, I switched that model from supporting the school in general (which subsidized all families) to faith community scholarships (which help Catholic families make Catholic school accessible). I thought supporting parish-specific families to attend Catholic school was more in line with our parish missions and the use of parish funds.
I spent part of the time before my retreat approving all of these scholarship applications. In order to qualify, families must be attending Sunday Mass and be giving online or through envelopes. Once a family qualifies, the only question we ask is “What amount of help is necessary for you to be able to send your child to Catholic school?”, and we trust our families to answer truthfully according to their family’s needs and priorities.
Last year, our parishes combined provided $188,000 in scholarships. Unfortunately, the total ask from qualifying families this year was $211,000, a need we could not meet. I only felt comfortable increasing our total scholarship amount by 0.5% (a little over year-to-year parish giving), so each family only got about 90% of what they asked for. We hope that this does not make-or-break any of our families’ ability to attend Catholic school. Regardless, I know many of our families are very thankful for what you – our parishioners – have been able to provide, a gift that helps them make up the gap between total tuition and what they are able to pay.
Home Sick this Week
I picked up some virus at my Masses this weekend which really drained my energy, so I had to cancel all of my activities on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Thankfully, I had already reserved Thursday as a stay-cation day, so I did not fall further behind (I was not good about scheduling all my vacation earlier in the year, so I have some use-it-or-lose-it random days off this Spring). Three notes:
- Remember, sickness is a valid reason to stay home from Mass, because it is outside of your control. I do not like getting sick, and neither do your fellow parishioners. If you stay home, simply try to spend extra time in prayer to recognize the importance of the Lord’s Day.
- Depending on how things progress, I may be wearing a mask at Masses this weekend when I’m around people. I am hoping we are collectively beyond thinking of masks as political statements, and we can just use them practically to keep from breathing germs on each other.
- I really need to get sick more often! I got a ton of e-mails taken care of, and am now only 4 weeks behind, which is really something given all of the activities before and after Easter.
Priest Assignments
Priest changes for July 01 are being published this weekend. If our Family is going to experience a change, you will be informed via a letter read at Mass this weekend. In that case, you should also expect an extra Pastor’s Note from me, via e-mail, on Sunday or Monday.
Fr. Moore 