Looking back at the weekly messages of Father Paul Counce, first published in The Carpenter, our weekly Parish Bulletin
Published: August 23, 2020
At the end of every fiscal year we publish here in The Carpenter a public financial report. In the past we’ve included colorful pie charts along with the descriptions of our income and expenses, showing “where the money comes from” and “where the money goes.” In fact, here in the Parish Office we often lightheartedly refer to it as the “pie chart issue”! It’s been a very well-received annual column.
But this year we’ve changed the pie charts into bar charts, which you see on page 3 of The Carpenter. This is because, when we started putting together the numbers, we realized that what people are really interested in this year aren’t the sources and destinations of our funds. As the Covid-19 pandemic virtually shut the Parish down for 2½ months – and still is severely restricting our revenues and activities – what most folks want to know is “how does this past year compare to the one before?”. Bar charts are best in providing this kind of comparison, which shows that income was down but so were expenses.
First, the bad news. Our weekly 2019-2020 offertory collection of $490,708.86, our main source of income, was down almost 16% from 2018-2019. Of that $490,708.86, $405,312.43 came from Identified Givers (down 13%), while anonymous donations of $26,130.68, were down 45%! Monies specifically identified for our monthly “Maintenance and Repair Collection” totaled $59,265.75, down 14% from the prior year. “Special Donations” apart from the weekly collections totaled $50,695.41, down 43% from 2018-2019.
While there were a few bright spots on the income side of things (wedding fees of $39,200.00 were up 17% from the previous year, for example, and funeral stipends totaled $1,260.00, quadruple what they were last year), most other incidental income like rents collected for use of our Hall and parking lot, were down as well.
The federal “Paycheck Protection Program” grant brought in a welcome $49,735.00, and we did get an $18,000.00 payout from our insurance company to upgrade the digital bell system in the Cathedral’s steeple. There were a few other extraordinary receipts as well. But in the end, our total Parish income was $769,853.10, down 22% from the previous year. Ugh!
But fortunately costs were down too, a bit. Your priest didn’t change so the “Clergy” costs barely changed at all. As usual, “Lay Employees” costs ($380,903.55) remain our largest expense, consisting of salaries and benefits, including FICA, health insurance for full-time employees, retirement, etc., but this was down 11% since our staff is smaller and more part-time this year. The “Liturgy and Music” category ($231,470.12) was significantly down this year – almost 28% – since we had to “lay off” our choir, in mid-March, well before Pentecost, and bought fewer other things used in worship. I also note that our Entergy bill went down 17%, to $34,490.64, since we were able to “turn off” the airconditioning in the Cathedral and the Hall for almost 10 weeks in March, April and May! Spending on “Pastoral Services” ($38,728.73) was up a bit (almost 39%), due to some special purchases for our social responsibility programs not yet reimbursed from our charity funds.
The category of “Plant Operation and Maintenance” is always a concern, since the upkeep of our aging “mother church” can be unpredictable and expensive. And sure enough, these were up significantly, to $359,864.98, since we replaced roofs on both office and rectory, and changed all the light bulbs and many light fixtures in the church.
Annually, one of our biggest costs is the tax on our ordinary income paid to the Diocese of Baton Rouge. Euphemistically called our “Parish Share,” it was $127,456.67. But this was down almost 3% from 2018-2019, and should go down again in 2020-2021 and 2021-2022. Our property insurance premiums, also paid to the diocese, were up 9% however, to a total of $57,554.33.
All other categories that you don’t see are in line with previous years’ expenses. One category you won’t see is “interest on loans”: we got out of debt back during Father Uter’s pastorate in the late 1980s, and since that day have paid our way without borrowing a penny!
Due to our parishioners’ generous stewardship and a few special one-time donations and bequests – as well as our Parish’s dedicated (trust) funds with the Baton Rouge Area Foundation – St. Joseph Parish’s financial situation remains strong, despite our small size and sometimes unusual costs. The “bottom line “ you see – we ran a “deficit” of $49,684.69 – was easily made up from our savings. In fact, even with our withdrawals to make ends meet we ended the fiscal year with more money in savings than we began with.
That’s the summary, then. For more detailed figures, just call the Parish Office; we will be happy to provide this!
But let me tell you: I am so grateful to you, our wonderful, generous parishioners and friends! Your financial Stewardship is outstanding: please keep it up! Make consistent, sacrificial donations in the offertory collection – or, even better, by using your bank’s “Bill Pay” feature to give your gifts. In turn, we will be “good stewards” of the Cathedral’s resources too!
Always yours in Christ Jesus,
Fr. Paul Counce
