Pastor’s Letter: July 3, 2022

Pastor’s Letter: July 3, 2022

1 Jul 2022 | Posted by: chadmin

The July 3 bulletin is available online.

Dear friend,

On this Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, we read one of Jesus’ call to ministry. The sending out of the Apostles to evangelize marked the beginning of Christian ministry. In Church governance, we look at the Apostles as the first Bishops of the Church. Each Bishop has the responsibility to hand on the faith to the people of the Diocese and ensure that orthodox teaching is communicated from one generation to the next. All ministry in the Name of Jesus Christ is an extension of this first moment when Jesus sent out His Twelve Apostles. Like the Apostles, each of us can experience awe when someone receives a word of instruction or guidance from us that results in a conversion or spiritual experience. The Bible, as well as the Christian history of the Church, clearly proves that God works through anyone who desires to be at the service of Jesus Christ. Whether we have directly experienced working as the Apostles experienced the demons subject to their word, we are all called to invite Jesus to use our lives to further His Gospel and the Kingdom of God.

Every year in June the St. Philomena Finance Council meets to set the budget for the new fiscal year. St. Philomena Church and School is financially stable. The council exists to ensure that the church and school are responsible with all of our resources. For a number of years the church budget has remained flat. This is due to many factors, including church and school growth, financial responsibility, generous extraordinary giving, and consistent and predictable ordinary Sunday giving by the parish community. Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, we did not see a large drop in financial giving to the church. Across the Diocese, there was a general decrease of 30% in giving to our Catholic parishes. I am so grateful for the consistent dedication and financial support of our parish community to the mission of our church and school.

With the new budget for fiscal year 2022-23, you will notice we have increased the ordinary giving Sunday Collection budget goal $150,000 to $1,120,000. While this is a significant increase over last year’s budget, it is only about $60,000 over last year’s actual collection. We realize this is an ambitious goal with the current economy and inflation; but, we are confident that the parish can help achieve this goal. Like you, we anticipate a large increase in energy costs this year. We plan to closely monitor our energy usage, but know that we will need to fund more energy expense and the salary increases across the campus. Every year I am so grateful for the ministry assistance provided by our Finance Council. They truly give excellent guidance to me as Pastor and they very much value their role as parish-wide representatives. I plan to give the yearly financial update to the whole parish during the Masses one weekend this fall. As always, to every one of you who gives time, talent, or financial support to St. Philomena, Thank You! Have a great week.

God bless,

Father David