Sunday, July 30, 2006
WONDERING ABOUT THE FINANCES
I've commented in the past about the difficulty I have in understanding the financial situation at my parish. The only numbers I have to go on are the ones posted in the bulletin every Sunday. The picture became a little murkier today.
Earlier this month I attended Mass in different parishes, so the first report I have in the new fiscal year at my parish is dated "July 16, 2006" which appears in the bulletin dated July 23, 2006. Entries include:
Sacrificial Love Offering Minimum Needed Weekly....$16,000.00
Regular Collection....$
Week's Deficit....$
Deficit to Date (Fiscal Year 7-1-06)....$
Last Year's Deficit....$156,037.33
The bolding appears in the original. There were no numbers following the dollar signs. The minimum needed weekly jumped from $15,000 last year to $16,000 this year, even though the collection never amounted to $15,000 in the past.
Today in the bulletin there are two financial reports, one dated July 16, 2006, and one dated July 23, 2006 These are the numbers:
July 16, 2006
Stewardship Love Offering Minimum Needed Weekly....$16,000.00
Regular Collection....$10,618.75
Week's Deficit....$5,381.25
Deficit to Date (Fiscal Year 7-1-06)....$14,509.25
Last Year's Deficit....$156,037.33
July 23, 2006
Stewardship Love Offering Minimum Needed Weekly....$16,000.00
Regular Collection....$10,364.50
Week's Deficit....$5,636.50
Deficit to Date (Fiscal Year 7-1-06)....$20,145.75
I simply fail to understand how this works. Last year's deficit was $156 thousand. When I figure out my household budget, I can't simply figure in a deficit and keep adding to it. How can a church do that? Do they borrow the money from somewhere? If so, where? Or is it that this is the "dream" amount, and the parish can actually get along with less and does so? This deficit business has been going on for years, but we haven't seen financial reports. Are these all just funny numbers and wishful thinking? Is the parish seriously in debt? I have no way of knowing.
Meanwhile my pastor has included his health woes in the bulletin today, and he has several. Is he not only telling us that the parish is going to close because we are not financially "vibrant," but also that he is considering retiring, which, I suppose, would be logical if the parish closes, since he has health problems and is nearly sixty.
The whole thing makes me rather uneasy, and it's making me less committed to my parish than I was before it started. It makes my husband even more uneasy than it makes me, now that he has started attending Mass regularly again. All the way home from Mass we talked about where we are going to attend church in the future once our parish closes. He thinks the fact that the parish is going to close is being made blatantly obvious.
Talking to our pastor is nearly an impossibility. He does not stand at the back to greet the parishioners after Mass. Getting an appointment with him is nearly impossible, and even talking with him on the phone is a protracted affair of phone tag.
I like my pastor. He has been faithful to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and to the pope. Is he being railroaded by the chancery, I keep wondering?
