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Browsing Fr. Poggemeyer's Weekly Letter

December 11, 2022

+JMJ

 

Dear Parishioners,

Last week we had another finance council meeting. The following are the highlights:

– We reviewed the normal financial charts for September-October: the balance sheet, the income and expense report, the payables report. We also heard from council members who conducted the internal audit for those months that everything seemed to be in order.

– We had to replace three valves in the a/c-heating system, costing a maximum $1,779 each. A couple more have to be installed in the near future. There are some leaks with the new valves that are being addressed. No valves have been paid for yet.

– We paid for half ($35,789) of the replacement of the air conditioning coils, one of which had sprung a leak over a year ago. It had been decided way back then to replace both coils, since the other had a high chance of going bad soon, since it's been 30 years. And, we redesigned the coils to make them more accessible for future maintenance. One of the new coils that came, however, was punctured in the shipping process. (AARRGGHH!) So, we are deliberating through Findlay Plumbing & Heating on how to have a new coil created, or get a significant discount, if they insist on just patching the damaged-new coil that we received.

– We are continuing to work on the new storage building process. We have downsized things significantly from the plans we had some months ago. It is looking promising. 

– As of writing this letter, our parish has reached 60% of its goal for the Living Christ diocesan capital campaign. That's $637,140, and I think it's impressive, given the state of the economy, and all the other ways that our parishioners are so generous. Thanks to all who have given thus far! And thanks for patience with us as we make our last step in the campaign, an invitation to donate during this weekend's Masses.

– As of writing this letter, our Diocesan ACA is at 80%. Again, amazing generosity on the part of our parishioners, given the entire picture!

We received our reimbursement from Cincinnati Insurance Company for flood damage of basement offices in August. With the Diocese we have a $100K insurance policy, with $1K deductible. In October we received a check for approximately $25K to cover remediation and contents. Then the insurance company estimated the demolition and repair at about $95K. Then they deducted about $22K worth of depreciation. So, we received another check for about $73K. I think we are pretty close to finishing the repairs, and I am very hopeful that we will be able to stay under that amount reimbursed. The repairs are not totally completed, however.

– We received a notice from the Diocese that the end of year report for the last fiscal year (turned in during summer) looked good; so no adjustments were needed.

– We received an anonymous gift of $25K for repair of the monument in the middle of our cemetery. Both the base of the monument, and the statues need some significant repair. We will be getting some updated quotes to see what the actual cost is. The quotes we have on hand is outdated.

– We received an anonymous gift of $6K for maintenance repairs. This will help towards repair of the lift that broke down recently (estimated at about $1K to repair), and some other items such as labor on replacing flooring in the Notre Dame room, and some painting, etc.

– Roppe Corp. has generously agreed to donate materials they produce for repair of the basement of the offices and landings, and the Notre Dame room. I learned that Roppe has been very generous with us in the past as well. We are very grateful!

– We are searching for a new Pastoral Associate for Worship. As of writing this letter, we have received a couple of resumes. Please keep praying that the Lord guide this search.

– Daniel Bye, our full-time maintenance assistant, has taken another job. We are grateful for his faithful service to our parish over the past 5-1/2 years, and we wish him the best in his next endeavors. Daniel did everything from janitorial and cleaning, to mowing and snow plowing. We intend to hire another full-person, but we can imagine two half-time positions as well, if we were to find the right people. We can't do without this position, given all the work at the cemetery that has to happen, in addition to the church campus.

– We sent out a $10K check to each of Tiffin Calvert and Fremont Bishop Hoffman schools, as parish support, since our children go there. This is reserved money that was left over from St. Wendelin's school. We have several years worth of reserved money still in the bank for this purpose.

– As of writing this letter, we are about $35,000 under budget with Sunday offertory collections. As I have written before, I realize the difficult times we are in, with the current recession. We are hoping, however, that perhaps some end-of-year gifts will come in that we can apply to operations as Sunday collection money does. Continued thanks to everybody for all the generosity we have experienced. I am very grateful!

So, there are highlights of the last finance meeting. Have a blessed rest of Advent!

In cordibus Iesu, Mariae et Iosephus,

Father Poggemeyer

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