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July 27, 2018Dear friends in Christ,
We’re just two weeks away from the dedication of the new Redeemer Activity Center (RAC). All are invited to join us for Mass at 11 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 12 with Cardinal DiNardo presiding. Afterward we’ll gather in the RAC for the dedication ceremony and blessing. We all can’t fit at one time, so we’ll have opportunities for you to tour the new building over the next several weeks. I’ll have more details soon. The building is looking great and I can’t wait for you to see it. It’s a much needed and great addition to our campus made possible by you, the parishioners of CtR.
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 management of all financial responsibilities. I can report that we are in good financial health at CtR. Our budget is tight, but it is balanced, our bills are paid, and we’re in good standing with 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.
Our actual offertory collections for this past year from the previous year were up 1.48 percent. Thank you for making it possible. You may recall that last year we were down 3.48 percent, the first time that has happened in several years. I was afraid after Hurricane Harvey we would be looking at a second straight down year, but we managed to be up just slightly, thanks be to God. Many parishes are facing down years, again chiefly as a result of Harvey. Plus, we are in the middle of a Capital Campaign and that also stretches every dollar. 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 by our dedicated staff, we were able to capture significant savings from our revenue over expenses. I’m happy to report we retired $903,000 in debt obligations this past year. In the last three years we’ve reduced our debt by more than $2 million, which is fantastic. 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 $5,655,200. Of this amount we anticipate Sunday and Holy Day collections to be $3,658,344 with the remaining income generated from facility rentals, R.E. registrations, investment income, and other donations. Our total budgeted expenses of $5,209,990 are allocated in the following ways:- Ministries: $2,073,692 (40 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: $813,644 (16 percent): All costs associated with the operations of the Parish Office (personnel, benefits, information and technology, equipment and supplies).
- Plant Operations: $926,559 (18 percent): All costs associated with the maintenance of our facilities, including utilities and repairs of buildings and grounds.
- Archdiocesan Obligations: $518,383 (10 percent): Building Fund Tax and Cathedraticum tax (assessed to every parish to help pay for the administrative departments of the Archdiocese).
- Capital Expenditures/Stewardship: $676,500 (13 percent): All costs associated with interests on our bank loans, our Capital Campaign and ongoing Stewardship efforts.
- Pastoral: $201,208 (4 percent): All costs associated with the priests, deacons and rectory.
When the new Redeemer Activity Center construction is completed next month 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. We have to account for roughly $10,400 a week in debt service in addition to the weekly operating expenses of $70,801. 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 our financial obligations as well. You will notice that the budgeted figure in the bulletin each week has been adjusted to reflect that increase. I’ll have more to share on our entire debt obligations for the campus and future commitments once we have the RAC online later in the fall.
One area our budget has had to increase is in health care benefits for our employees. Every parish and school in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston is facing an eight percent increase in health care costs. Last year it went up 13 percent and the year before that it was up 12 percent, so that means we’ve seen a 33 percent rise in health care costs in just three years. For us, it amounts to nearly $340,000 of our budget. It’s important, of course, and we want to be fair to our employees, but just as you see costs increase in your personal budgets at home, so too do they increase in our parish home. In addition, the Archdiocese has raised our property insurance premiums $68,000 and required us to pay another $16,000 into a disaster fund in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. We can’t escape those expenses; they are happening to every parish in the Archdiocese. Again, no pastor is happy about any of this, but such is life on the Gulf Coast in 2018.
On a more joyous note, 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 of some parishes that 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 school benefactors for working hard to make CtR Catholic 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. They are parishioners like you, and work tirelessly to see that we can meet our needs now and plan effectively for the future. Additionally, all this financial information and more can be found on our website. I promise to be as transparent as I 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.
The reason we exist is to help people encounter Christ and 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 it in the future so that we might all serve the Lord with gladness. May God bless you for your support of our parish home.
Peace,
Fr. Sean
