Dear Parishioners, +JMJ
A blessed Feastday of St. Wendelin to all of you! May St. Wendelin's holy life of work and prayer as shepherd and abbott continue to inspire all of us who call St. Wendelin Parish our home!
A couple weeks ago we had another finance council meeting. Here are some highlights:
- We reviewed the normal financial statements: the balance sheet, the income and expense report, the aging report. A finance council member reported on his internal audit for the last two months. The only question he had was regarding some payments to a company that is administering our application for the new Cares Act Employee Retention Tax Relief for institutions that kept employees working through COVID. The Diocese vetted that company and invited all parishes to apply. This is essentially the next round of "PPP relief,” covering the months of COVID not covered by the first PPP relief payments. We applied, and we hope to get some money eventually.
- Six new heat/AC valves have now finally been replaced. All six cost a total of $10,674.
- The Vistana timeshare that we have been trying to get rid of for about two years has finally been fully transferred back to the parent company. This involved a lot of work on the part of Diocesan Legal Counsel and the Bishop, since the property was put under the Bishop's name from the start. I am grateful for their work.
- As you are reading this, the new storage building has been completed, with all necessary inspections. I think Clouse Construction and all the subcontracted companies did an excellent job. Thus far, we have made two payments for the storage building, totalling $292,050. Thanks to everybody who donated to this project over the last couple of years, and to those who gave to the Living Christ Campaign, since funds from that campaign topped off the funds already collected for the building.
- The cross in the niche on the façade of the new storage building is the cross that stood upon the peak of our high school building. Tim Reinhart refurbished this cross, made it look amazing!
- The parish security system will be extended to cover the new storage building. That installation will happen soon.
- So far the Diocesan Living Christ Campaign has sent back to the Parish $95,537. Many thanks to everybody who gave to this campaign! Please continue to be faithful to pledges.
- We are at 67% of our Diocesan Annual Catholic Appeal goal. This appeal covers pastoral endeavors of the Diocese. Many thanks to everybody who has made a donation to the ACA. Please know the Diocese is still taking donations towards our parish goal. It's amazing how well our parish has done, how generous our people have been to both the ACA and the Living Christ, especially in this difficult time of recession. Continued thanks for so much generosity!
- Since the storage building is completed, the next project to benefit from Living Christ funds will be the lighting in the church. We are working on final quotes, after which we will put everything together for the Diocese to get approval, as is usual for any project over $30,000. We have $85,467 from previous fundraising for the lighting project. Living Christ funds will top that off, as need be.
- Next on the list of Living Christ funds usage will be the rectory roof and all the parking lots.
- We want to purchase a used forklift for the storage building. We had a forklift in the old festival storage building on the high school property; but that lift was condemned, because it was in such bad condition. We were given a verbal estimate of $10,000-$13,000 by somebody who knows the industry. The forklift will help us use space efficiently in the storage building, especially to stack items in the pallet racking that will be along the north and east interior walls.
- The monument in the center of the cemetery is almost complete. The new cross is still being crafted; and finding the metallic color we need for the cross is taking some extra time.
- The lawnmower at the cemetery has about 2,050 engine hours accumulated. It's burning oil significantly. We don't absolutely have to purchase a new lawnmower at this time, but we certainly need to be thinking about one in the near future. Our lawn mower gets a huge work out at the cemetery. A recent quote came in just under $10,000.
- With all the expenses finally tabulated, the mini-fest netted $18,229. That's pretty amazing! Since we already have several years of funds for supporting Catholic schools our families use, the finance council recommended putting this money into our parish endowment fund at the Diocese. That's what we'll do.
- We discussed the proposed new, matching memorabilia cabinets… One of which would hold the current historical items already seen in our hallway; and the other of which would hold school memorabilia. We discussed the hope that this project could bring some healing for those who mourn the closing of our schools, and also perhaps some inspiration at the decades-worth of effort that went into trying to pass the Faith onto our children through Catholic Education.
So there are some highlights from the meeting. On another note, I am aware that we have to move soon to get the newest and remaining section of our cemetery laid out with grave sites. There is a lot to consider here. I am trying to get some guidance from the company that manages the cemeteries of the Diocese. The cemetery committee will be involved in this process as soon as I can get something useful to discuss.
Have a blessed week!
In cordibus Iesu, Mariae et Iosephus,
Father Poggemeyer