Dear Parishioners,
Bishop Caggiano has announced that December 5, 2021 will be “Accountability Sunday” in the Diocese of Bridgeport, when every parish will publish on its website its comparative financial results, in a standardized format, for the fiscal year which ended on June 30, 2021. This format differs slightly from the format the parish normally uses to report financial information each quarter, but the financial results are consistent. In addition, we are including the quarterly financial statements as of September 30, 2021.
As our financial results show, so far we have been able to weather the pandemic through the support of our parishioners and the forgiveness of $233,800 of the Payroll Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loans provided by the government. These pandemic relief programs are no longer available, so the continued support of our parishioners is especially critical.
Throughout the pandemic, our focus has been on offering the best liturgical and ministerial services we can, as this is essential to the spiritual growth of the parish. We also need to provide a safe and comfortable campus for our community to worship together. Due to rising utility costs and the many repairs required to maintain our aging buildings, our expenses have been growing at a significant rate. Offertory collections and the Annual Parish Appeal are urgently important for us to maintain our day-to-day parish operations. We deeply appreciate every family that uses online giving or mails in their offertory envelopes. The Parish Finance Council respectfully asks each family to prayerfully reflect on their level of weekly offertory giving and to implement its intentional level of giving for the new year by signing up for online giving or strengthening its online giving level.
We would like to thank the parishioners who are participating in the We Stand With Christ campaign or have made a special gift to support the capital needs of the parish. In the past two years, these gifts have been used for necessary improvements to the church, including adding live-streaming capability, changing over to LED lighting, replacing the air conditioning system, rebuilding the side entrance to the church lobby, and repairing the parking lot. The church roof is a 25-year roof which is now 30 years old; so far we have been able to maintain it through small repairs but, sometime soon, we will need to replace the roof.
The parish is also focused on reducing the amount due to the Diocese. From 2005 to 2015, the parish accumulated debt and amounts due to the Diocese of over $547,000. Over the past six years, the parish has paid over $244,000 to reduce our debt to the Diocese. In addition, we are keeping current with our monthly cathedraticum obligation to the Diocese and, each quarter, we have made an additional payment to pay down the remaining arrearage.
Please don’t hesitate to approach any of us with any questions.
Respectfully submitted by the Parish Finance Council,
John W. Diercksen, Parish Finance Chair
Father Joseph A. Marcello, Pastor; Members: Carol Donnelly; Mark Gurevitz; Michael LaBella;
Edgar Sewell. Kenneth M. Martin, Jr., and Marian Whiteman, Lay Members of the Parish Corporation.
James Panullo, Director of Parish Operations; Mary Dineen, Parish Accountant.