+JMJ
Dear Parishioners,
First off, a HUGE THANKS!! to everybody who made the Mini-Fest happen two Saturdays ago! Once again, it seemed to be a great atmosphere, and the parish adds to the community life of Fostoria with this event; and even a bit of evangelism is happening. I certainly know I had some evangelistic conversations there; and I bet some of you did, too. The Mini-Fest netted just over $18,000. The finance council is recommending – since we have money saved for Catholic school support for four years in advance – that we put this money into our endowment trust investment account with the Diocese. And that brings me to the main topic of this letter – the finance council meeting we had a couple weeks ago. Here are some highlights:
- We reviewed the financial reports for the last couple of months – the balance sheet, the income and expense report, the payables report. Also, a couple council members reported on the internal audit they did for those months.
- We turned in our end-of-year financial report to the diocese. Each finance council member signed it, after we examined it. We ended the year in the black by $309,695. This was because of special gifts, bequests, Living Christ Campaign funds received, and performance of investment funds. You will find in this bulletin a condensed balance sheet and a condensed income and expense report that reflect our end-of-year report to the Diocese. Canon Law requires us once a year to make a disclosure of our financial situation to the parish. Those condensed reports in this bulletin serve that purpose. If you have any questions about the financial reports in this bulletin, please contact Deb Brickner, our finance manager.
- Of the five ice bins we have, as part of our cooling system, one has been broken since before I arrived. That ice bin was finally repaired! We found out that glycol was leaking at the flanges right at the surface of the tank. It's a relief to know that we can have full capacity of ice again.
- As everybody can now see, the storage building has begun! The foundation should be poured by the time you are reading this, and materials delivered this week, so that framing can begin. The building should be done by early November. On the east side of the gathering space there is a display that illustrates our need for more storage space, and the basic plan of the building.
- From the Diocesan Living Christ Capital Campaign, the Parish has received $87,794 thus far. That money will go towards the four parish projects that were described during the campaign. Continued thanks to everybody who gave to the campaign so generously! Thank you also for continuing to fulfill your pledges! Most immediately, about $40,000 of that money will top off what we have already reserved for the storage building. Second on the list is replacing the lights in the church. For this also, capital campaign money will top off what we already have reserved.
- Our parish goal for the Bishop's Annual Catholic Appeal, which funds pastoral endeavors of the Diocese, is at 62%. Thank you to everybody who has given to this appeal. Please consider a gift, if you have not yet given.
- [As always, I realize how tight finances are right now for many of us, given the state of the economy. I trust our parishioners will be faithful, prudent and generous as the Lord leads them.]
- We are in the process of getting quotes for the lighting in the church. Once we get the quotes, we'll have to present the whole project to the Diocese for approval. The new lights will save us some significant money on the electric bill, and even some on the air conditioning bill, since the lights will be much cooler than the current lights.
- The repair of the monument of Calvary at the center of the cemetery is well underway. The statues and the corpus on the cross did not need any repair, so those are being stored in the mausoleum. The base of the monument needed to be totally rebuilt. Once we got a close look at the cross, we realized that it also had to be totally rebuilt. It was quite dented up on the outside, as well as being ripped down one of its seams. The internal metal structure of the cross was also corroded. We have an anonymous donation for the repair of the base.
- After all the flood repair of the basement floor of the offices, and keeping some cash on hand for items that still have to be purchased for some of the rooms, we have $50,000 surplus that we have decided to deposit into our diocesan endowment trust investment account. We want to keep building that account for future pastoral endeavors or capital projects/repairs.
So, there are highlights from our last finance council meeting. On another note: Before the high school building was demolished, a number of memorabilia items were saved, in hopes of displaying them in cabinets in the main hallway between the church and the offices. With that in mind, we got a quote to build a uniform set of cabinets in that hallway, replacing the cabinets that are there now to give the whole things a uniform and neat look. The quote came to just under $14,000, although the quote is over six months old, might have to be updated. We have not determined yet where the funds will come from for this project.
Have a blessed week!
In cordibus Iesu, Mariae et Iosephus,
Father Poggemeyer
