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August 11, 2017Dear friends in Christ,
This Tuesday, Aug. 15, is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and a Holy Day of Obligation. Our Masses will be at 7 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 14 (vigil) and at 9 a.m., 4:30 p.m., and 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 15. I encourage you to join us as we honor Our Lady’s assumption into the heavenly realm.
In other news, last week I reported some of the demographic data for our parish from this past year, and since we began a new fiscal year on July 1, I want to take the opportunity this week to look at the financial state of our community. One of the chief responsibilities of a pastor is sound management of the Church’s temporal goods and prudent and balanced management of all financial responsibilities. I can report that we are in good financial health at CtR. Our budget is balanced, our bills are being paid and we are in good standing with all our Archdiocesan obligations.
The people of CtR are primarily responsible for that being the case. You continue to be generous stewards of God’s gifts to you and in turn we do our best to be good stewards of the gifts you share with the Church. I thank each of you for your continued sacrifice, week in and week out, to support the ministries of the parish. Only with your support are we able to do the work of the Gospel. Thank you very much.
Our actual offertory collections for this past year from the previous year were down 3.48 percent, the first time that has happened in several years. The decrease is not unexpected – nearly every parish around us has reported a similar scenario and we are in the middle of a Capital Campaign. Additionally, the local economy, while improving somewhat, is still tight in the oil and gas sector. Fortunately, thanks to unsolicited donations and a close watch on our spending, we were able to capture significant savings from our revenue over expenses. I’m happy to report we retired nearly $400,000 in debt obligations this past year. In the last two years we’ve reduced our debt by more than $1.1 million. Thank you for making that possible.
As we look to the new fiscal year, we are keeping our overall budget flat. Our total budgeted income for this new fiscal year is $4,869,209. Of this amount we anticipate Sunday and Holy Day collections to be $3,606,659 with the remaining income generated from facility rentals, R.E. registrations, investment income, and other donations. Our total budgeted expenses of $4,485,108 are allocated in the following ways:
- Ministries: $1,998,969 (45 percent): All expenses associated with nearly every one of our more than 80 ministries, including Religious Education and catechetical formation departments (children, Youth Ministry and Adult Faith Formation, including RCIA), as well as Liturgy, Music, and Social outreach to services like CAM and others.
- Parish Administration: $822,942 (18 percent): All costs associated with the operations of the Parish Office (personnel, benefits, Information and Technology, equipment and supplies).
- Plant Operations: $786,312 (17 percent): All costs associated with the maintenance of our facilities, including utilities and general maintenance and repairs of buildings and grounds.
- Archdiocesan Obligations: $477,116 (11 percent): Building Fund Tax and Cathedraticum Tax (assessed to every parish to help pay for the administrative departments of the Archdiocese).
- Capital Expenditures/Stewardship: $208,900 (5 percent): All costs associated with interest on our bank loans, our Capital Campaign and ongoing Stewardship efforts.
- Pastoral: $190,869 (4 percent): All costs associated with the priests, deacons and rectory.
When the new Redeemer Activity Center construction is completed, next summer we will begin paying for debt servicing of it alongside our regular day-to-day operations, so it is imperative that we continue to work together to keep our expenses in check while increasing our loan payments. The only way to do so is through your continued generous support that allows us to grow our ministries to meet the needs of the community and meet our financial obligations as well. You will notice that the budgeted figure in the bulletin each week on Page 3 remains at $69,755. That is a guide to help us cover operational expenses and contribute to our loan payments.
One area our budget has increased in is health care benefits for our employees. Every parish and school in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston is facing a 13 percent increase in health care costs. Last year it went up 12 percent, so that means we’ve seen a 25 percent rise in health care costs in just two years. We can’t escape that. It is happening to every parish in the Archdiocese. For us, it amounts to nearly $300,000 of our total budget. It’s important, of course, and we want to be fair and just with our employees, but just as you see costs increase in your personal budgets at home, so too do they increase in our parish home.
I’m happy to report that our
CtR Catholic School was once again 100 percent self-funded this past year, and we have again budgeted for it to be in this coming year. I know some parishes subsidize their school several hundred thousands of dollars. We do not. Through the generosity of parents, good fundraising, and effective management, our school has operated in the black since its inception. It also contributes an additional $10,000 a month to help out on our debt retirement. My thanks to our school administration, parents and benefactors for working hard to make CtR School a success both in the classroom and on the bottom line.
Finally, thanks to Nora Pena, Parish Business Manager, Deacon Kerry Bourque, Parish Administrator, and our hard working Finance Council, all of whom have done great work in helping us be good stewards of all our resources. Additionally, all this financial information and more can be found on our website. We’re happy to share it with you. I promise to be as transparent as I possibly can be about our financial picture. You have a right to know that your gifts are being used wisely and fairly to build up the Kingdom of God here on earth. If you have any questions, I’m happy to speak with you about it.
Our corner of the Kingdom of God continues to grow at CtR. We have added nearly 1,400 families in the last five years. We’re doing more and serving more people each year, and that is a good thing. It’s the reason we exist – to help people encounter Christ. And thus it is that the Church relies on your generosity to help make that possible. As your pastor, I never take that for granted. I’m humbled by your support and ask that you continue to do so in the future so that we might all serve the Lord with gladness. Every dollar in the collection and every pledge to the Capital Campaign is important and makes a difference. May God bless you for your support of CtR.
Peace,
Fr. Sean