St.
Henry Parish
Sharing our
Stewardship of Time, Talent & Treasure
November 5, 2007
Dear St. Henry Members,
We all address finances as we look to
the future. This is as true for a diocese or a parish, as it is for a business,
an individual, or a family. Knowing our income and expenses, living on a budget
and spending our money wisely just makes good sense. Beginning this year, our
parish will join with all other parishes in the Diocese of Covington to
implement an annual process that will ask each of us to reflect on our
contributions to the Lords work here in our parish and in our Diocese.
Parishioners will not be asked to
simply increase their offertory contributions. Rather, we will all be asked to
examine our weekly giving in light of stewardship teaching. The principle
question that we will reflect upon is: if everything that we are and everything
we have are gifts from God, is what we give back in gratitude for these gifts
too much, just enough, or too little? The answer to this question, based upon
prayerful reflection, will determine if each of us will increase or decrease
our giving or continue to give what we are currently giving.
Why are we engaging in this process
now? First, many parish leaders have been telling Bishop Foys that parish
income is a constant concern. Also, the Bishop had been consulting with the
Diocesan Finance Committee to see how the priorities spelled out by the Synod
could be funded and how to insure the long-term financial stability of Diocesan
ministries and services. It became very clear that any effort to raise
additional funds for the Diocese, must also benefit the parishes.
Bishop Foys held a series of meetings
with the Pastors and Parish Life Collaborators throughout the Diocese. Upon
their agreement, additional meetings were held with lay leaders of all
parishes. At these meetings, the process of implementing an Offertory Program
this fall and a Time, Talent and Treasure Program during the next fours years,
beginning in 2008, was explained.
All parishes will participate in the 5-year
program. For the first and second
years, any offertory income increases will be split 50-50 with the
Diocese. After the second year, the
Diocese share will be frozen and the parishes will receive 100% of the
increases experienced in the third, fourth, and fifth years.
At all Masses next weekend, I will ask
each of you to make a specific commitment to weekly offertory giving. The
activities on that weekend, and the follow-up process to contact those who do
not respond, will stress the necessity of having every parish household, as
well as young adults with their own income, to contribute regularly using
envelopes or by automatic electronic giving. If you change the amount that you
give, please begin giving the new amount by January 1, 2008.
I hope that each of you will welcome
this request and accept the call to reflect upon whether your financial gifts
represent an adequate thanksgiving for the many blessings God has bestowed upon
you. Then, please respond to this request with charity and love.
Prayerfully yours,
Rev. James M. Ryan, Pastor
St.
Henry Parish 3813 Dixie Highway Elsmere, KY 41018
(859) 727-2035 www.sthenryel.com/parish
Current Offertory Contributions
Envelopes are sent out to 1,009 households each month. Throughout the year, approximately 450
households use envelopes on a regular basis.
An analysis of offertory over the last ten months showed that 313 households
gave less than $5 per week and 105 households either did not give at all or did
not do so using envelopes. Therefore,
if you give less than $260 per year, this averages to $5 or less per week.
The giving pattern of our parish for an average Sunday is shown in the
following chart.
Average
Weekly Contribution by Number of Households
January
1, 2007 through September 30, 2007
|
# of households |
$ amount per week |
|
25 |
$
1 5 |
|
56 |
$ 6 10 |
|
99 |
$
11 20 |
|
57 |
$
21 30 |
|
39 |
$
31 40 |
|
36 |
$
41 50 |
|
19 |
$
51 60 |
|
42 |
$
60 or more |
I ask that every
parishioner consider the gifts that God has given to him or her; then, compare
those to the amount that you return in gratitude for those gifts.
Reflect on your personal
spending on items such as fast food, movie attendance or rental, going out to
dinner, etc. Think about the ratio of
these expenditures to your support of our parish. A look at the above chart will indicate that the average St. Henry
parishioner probably spends more in a week on pizza than on assisting in the
mission of our parish.
Ask yourself if the
portion of your income that you give to the work of the Lord is enough, too
much, or not enough. Look at the commitment chart on the last page of this
brochure, then decide what amount you will indicate when you receive the card
for your household at Mass this weekend.
Without receiving a commitment card from each household, we have no way
to predict our annual income. It is our
firm belief that through sound planning, we can avoid any financial crisis and
preserve our parish's well being now and in the years to come. We pray that parishioners will carefully
review the chart above and the succeeding pages of this brochure and will
respond generously.
St. Henry Parish
For Fiscal Year 2007-2008
(July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008)