Weekly Letter: Aug. 6, 2023 Bulletin

Dear friends in Christ,

    Today we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, which always falls on Aug. 6. When that day is a Sunday like it is this year, it’s a chance for us to highlight the beauty and joy that emanates from Jesus as he was transfigured high upon the mountain in the presence of Peter, James, and John. The voice from upon high that called out “Listen to him” should still ring in our ears today. Do we hear it?

    In other news, we began a new fiscal year on July 1 and I want to take the opportunity this week to share with you 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 tight, of course, but it 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 offertory collections for this past year from the previous year were up by 7 percent (actuals over actuals). Again, thank you for making that possible. Since we were just emerging from the pandemic the previous year, when our offertory was essentially flat, it’s not surprising that this past year saw a jump as more and more people made their way back to Mass. Still, it’s a testament to your generosity and faithfulness in our mission and for that I am most appreciative. Many parishes saw a decrease from the previous year so we are grateful for the support of everyone at CtR.

    As we look to the new fiscal year, we are projecting a modest 2 percent increase from our 2022-23 actual (not budgeted) numbers. Our total budgeted income for this new fiscal year is $5,709,320. Of this amount we anticipate Sunday and Holy Day collections to be $3,942,350 with the remaining income generated from facility rentals, R.E. registrations, investment income, and other donations. Our total budgeted expenses of $5,709,320 are allocated in the following ways:

    • Ministries: $2,051,332 (36 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: $1,182,765 (21 percent): All costs associated with the operations of the parish office (personnel, benefits, Information and Technology, equipment and supplies).
    • Plant Operations: $982,761 (17 percent): All costs associated with the maintenance of our facilities, including utilities and general maintenance and repairs of buildings and grounds.
    • Archdiocesan Obligations: $376,780 (7 percent): Building Fund Tax and Cathedraticum tax (assessed to every parish to help pay for the administrative departments of the Archdiocese).
    • Capital Expenditures/Stewardship: $888,020 (16 percent): All costs associated with interests on our bank loans, our Capital Campaign and ongoing Stewardship efforts.
    • Pastoral: $215,899 (4 percent): All costs associated with the priests, deacons and rectory.

    We will continue to keep a close eye on our discretionary spending and investments, just as you as parishioners do in your individual household budget. We always speak of the parish as being a family and so in a sense we collectively are one household – it’s just a really big house! I ask every household to review your own tithe to the parish, and if possible, make adjustments to your tithe to the parish. I have done so myself by logging into my Faith Direct account and bumping up my online giving over last year, and I invite you to do the same on a level that works in your own household budget.

    One area of our overall budget that has had to increase is health care benefits for our employees. Every parish and school in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston is facing an increase in health care costs this year to our group rate. It has gone up every year for the past seven years straight – it has never gone down. In fact, we’ve seen more than a 50 percent rise in health care insurance premiums just since 2015 alone. It’s a staggering rise, and for us it amounts to $439,063 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 we see it in our parish home. We can’t escape those expenses; they are happening to every parish in the Archdiocese.

    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. I know of some parishes that subsidize their school hundreds of thousands of dollars. We do not. This is the 10th anniversary of our school and it has always pulled its own weight from the first day we opened the doors. What a blessing! It also contributes more than $100,000 per year to help out on our overall debt retirement for the entire CtR campus. 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.

    In the coming weeks I’ll share with you some additional information on our debt service as we look to the future. We’re still processing some numbers from the Archdiocese as they close out the fiscal year and return that information to us. Finally, thanks to Nora Pena, Parish Business Manager, Deacon Kerry Bourque, Parish Administrator, and our hard working Finance Council, and our parish staff, 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, by the end of this coming month we’ll have our full annual report with more budget details and the data from the annual pastoral report both on our parish website and sent to you via Flocknote. 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.

    The reason CtR exists is to help people encounter Christ. The Church relies on your generosity to help make that possible – from paying the electric bill, to providing healthcare for employees, to stocking bathrooms with toilet paper, to buying books and rosaries for Religious Education and everything in between. As your pastor, I’m humbled by your support week in and week out, and ask that you continue to offer it in the future so that we might all serve the Lord with gladness. May God bless you for your support of CtR.

Peace, Fr. Sean