A Gift Of A New Parish Hall
God has blessed our parish in a most splendid way. Sam Longman, a member of our parish, has offered to give us a substantial gift with the specific stipulation that it is to be used to cover the cost of building a new parish hall. So far, Sam has given us some “seed money” to hire an architect and begin the preliminary work. We are at the beginning stages of this project. The parish council and finance council have been aware of this opportunity for the last three months, and now we have a project committee headed up by Herb Rodier who will keep on top of this endeavor. Just recently, the diocese has given us permission to initiate a “building project”. We are in the process of getting some schematic drawings together. We will give the parish an opportunity to see the drawings. The finance council and the parish council will be consulted. Then the project committee will put the finishing touches on the schematic drawings, and those schematic drawings will be sent to the diocese for approval. After the diocesan approval of the drawings, bids will be solicited. Bids will have to be submitted to the diocese for approval as well, before we can hire a contractor. We will keep you informed through the bulletin as the project progresses. At this point, I can give you no time frame as to the completion of this project. When the hall is built, it will be named in honor of Sam Longman.
Through the instrumentality of Sam Longman’s generosity, God has made the impossible possible. First of all, we have no extra funds to build a new hall. Secondly, because of the upcoming capital campaign for the diocese, there is a four-year freeze on all parish campaigns within the diocese. So, even if we wanted to raise money for a hall, we wouldn’t be allowed to begin fund raising for it until 2007. The only way that we would be allowed to build this hall is if someone would donate the money for that particular purpose, and that person would have to donate all of it.
Certainly this is a generous gift, and a new parish hall is definitely needed. We are most grateful to Sam and his family. However, as a parish, we need to keep a few things in mind. This donation will be specifically given for the purpose of building a new parish hall. It doesn’t cover any furnishings that the new hall may need. It will only cover the cost of building a hall, and it won’t cover the cost of additional classrooms, which may be needed. This financial gift is not to be used for operational expenses for the parish.
This means that continued and consistent financial support from all the parishioners is still needed. In order for us just to meet payroll and pay for the bare basic needs, we need to raise at least $7,600 a week in the Sunday collection. When I say bare basics, I mean bare basics. Anything that could be viewed as unnecessary is cut out. As of November 21st, we know of 98 people who have committed to raising the weekly contribution $400 per week. If they keep their commitments, the parish will be able to raise about $7,600 per week in Sunday collections.
Of course this $7,600 figure is based on two assumptions: we meet our goal at the auction; we meet our Annual Diocesan Appeal goal. To give you some estimates, we made a net income of $36,000 on the auction, which is $4,000 below our goal. We have yet to reach our goal for the Annual Diocesan Appeal. As of right now, we are at least $6,000 below for the ADA, but we still have a few months to reach our goal.
We have already made quite a few spending cuts. From ordinary income, we have cut out some basic items: flowers for the Church; unessential supplies; reimbursement for the annulment notary auditor; half of the expenses for rectory housekeeping; television cable for the rectory; socials; endowment fund reimbursement; rectory window replacement fund.
There are a few things we have been able to keep thanks to the extraordinary donations of various individuals. For instance, thanks to an anonymous donation, we have been able to keep housekeeping and cable for the rectory. About $4,000 has been given to the endowment fund through bequests, memorials, and extraordinary gifts. New vessels and vestments have been given to the parish thanks to the gifts of our sacristans and extraordinary ministers of communion. One of our parishioners donates money to cover the cost of the wine. Thanks to this donation, we are able to keep our practice of having communion under both forms. If we have any flowers for Christmas, it will be through our poinsettia memorial program. We are developing a Christmas “Wish List” for the school and rectory.
We are in the process of making even more cuts. We will stop sending donation envelopes to all the parishioners who haven’t used them in the last year. We will be cutting the number of missalettes that we order. Currently, we order 400 missalettes for the Church. After Christmas we will cut down to 100 missalettes. We will encourage people to share missalettes with other people, or order their own missals through Lagron Miller. We will have more information about that in upcoming bulletins.
Great progress has been made in our parish. A generous benefactor has stepped forward to provide the funds needed to build a new parish hall. We are paying our bills. At this point, we haven’t reduced staff or staff hours. We have an active building and grounds committee who are trying to do needed projects around the parish. The school year is going well. We are slowly implementing the new revisions of the Mass. I am hoping that this progress will not give us a false sense of security. It would be a sad statement about our parish if we could say that we would have enough money to build a parish hall, but not enough money to pay our bills. We need to continue moving forward, because if we are not moving forward, we are going backward.
Parish Council: Bob Pomazal and Greg Serangeli (deacons); Jack DeSatnick and Marj McAllister (trustees); Jeannine McAllister (principal of the school); Carolyn Karman (president of the finance council); Ty Fennell (Building and Grounds); Chris Huenefeld (president of the education commission).
Finance Council: Jack DeSatnick and Marj McAllister (ex officio by virtue of being trustees); Carolyn Karman (president); Dennis Gould; Dick Matkovich; Donna Armstrong; James Fennell; Ty Fennell; Mike Kinnary.
Building Project Committee: Herb Rodier; Larry Tadie; Joe Langenstein; Don Connor; Howard Simmons.