As I sat down to write these few paragraphs, I had to stop, pray for a while and then get to it! The image that came to my mind is from Our Lady of Guadalupe. She tells Juan Diego, go to the bishop and tell him I want a church built. Well, we have built a church, not just of brick and mortar, but a church of faith and family. Now we have to find a way to provide for this church, with
God’s help.
Last September, along with the finance committee, I provided the financial report. We shared with everyone that we had average expenses of $86,475.00 and an average income of $69,000.00. In order to move out of the red, we asked everyone to prayerfully consider increasing your parish contribution by 20%.
I need, first of all, to thank everyone for the ongoing support to the parish. There has been a positive increase in our income, I would like to especially thank the many who have been able to provide even more than a 20% increase. The average income increased to $74,492.00, in other words, an increase of 8%. We did not reach our goal. We need to develop other strategies.
We have not been having any second collections, it is now important for us to restore this practice. The next two weekends, we will have a second collection. The thought is something like this: Many have a “Christmas List”. Would you please consider adding the parish to the list? In your box of envelopes, you might have noticed an envelop marked “Christmas”, you can use that envelope or any other envelope to place your “Christmas gift to the parish” during those two-second collections.
Then, beginning in January, we will also have a second collection twice a month. The focus will be to help with the mortgage payment and maintenance expenses. This may be a good way for everyone to be much more in touch with the level of support that the parish needs.
I really needed to pray before siƫng down to give you this financial report. Please, consider all of this in the context of your own prayer. I will make sure that we continue to provide a regular report.
Father Francisco Gómez, S.T.