July 25, 2010
Dear Parishioners:
As many of you are aware, every year in late August or early September we produce a bulletin insert with a detailed breakdown of our July through June fiscal year revenue and expenses for both the parish and the school. We will do that again this year but since we have just reached the end of our 2009/2010 fiscal year, and as we begin a new year, I want to report to you more generally on the financial health of the parish and the challenges that we face in the current economic environment.
Those of you who regularly read the parish bulletin know that we ended the year below budget regarding offertory contributions. The budget number that you see in the bulletin each week includes what is needed to support all parish operations, pay diocesan assessments and fund church ministries. It also includes what is needed to fund our subsidy and tuition assistance commitment to OLPH School as well as our subsidy to Notre Dame for our parish teenagers who attend school there. The shortfall in offertory that you saw was met by using savings that we have accumulated during the years when we exceeded our offertory expectations. By doing so, we were able to meet our expenses.
Parish office management and the Parish Finance Board, along with the School Committee and School administration, work hard to be responsible stewards of parish resources, overseeing expenses while supporting the ongoing mission of both church and school. It is clear, however, that the economic downturn of the past few years, and its impact on parish families, has been felt by Our Lady of Perpetual Help on many levels; reduced offertory contributions, a decline in enrollment in our school, increased requests for tuition help both at our school and at Notre Dame High School, and, finally, a marked increase in requests for food and other assistance by parishioners.
Over the past four fiscal years school expenses have been reduced a total of 7% while the school continues to provide a quality Catholic education for our children and works to improve teacher compensation. The parish budget for the new 2010/2011 fiscal year has been reduced 3.4% compared to 2009/2010 but the weekly number needed to meet budget that you will see in the bulletin will remain the same as last year. This was done in order to work toward building a minor contingency fund for what may be increased tuition assistance and other needs of our parishioners.
This is the point in the letter where I ask for your help. We are a generous and welcoming parish. We have been that generously welcoming parish for nearly 75 years. I am asking you now to do two things: Pray regularly for Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish and for our ability to continue to serve the needs of our church and school community; and, also, to consider what more you might be able to do to help the parish financially. Both of these things are vitally important to Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
We have begun the process of reviewing various options and programs that will help us stabilize and then increase our weekly offertory contributions. As I mentioned above, it usually comes down to two things for any Catholic parish; prayer and financial stability. Without enough money a parish is unable to perform its mission. We are no different. These are tough times, I realize, but I promise that Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish will continue to use your contributions wisely; to meet our church commitments, to help our families, to help our school and to help those who need food or support at this time.
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Jim
Rev. James Vick
Pastor
C.c. Rev. Mike Creson
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish Finance Board
Jeri McInturff, Principal, Our Lady of Perpetual Help School
Marina Delaney, Chairperson, Our Lady of Perpetual Help School Committee
Kathy Sumrell, Director of Development, Our Lady of Perpetual Help School
Ralph Christiana, Business Manager
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish Finance Board
Jeri McInturff, Principal, Our Lady of Perpetual Help School
Marina Delaney, Chairperson, Our Lady of Perpetual Help School Committee
Kathy Sumrell, Director of Development, Our Lady of Perpetual Help School
Ralph Christiana, Business Manager