Pastor's Corner

Your committment to support our church

06-23-2019Pastor's CornerRev. Robert J. Deehan, V.F.

Recently, while waiting with another parishioner on an athletic field for their children to finish a game, a member of our Parish Pastoral Council heard this parent express her consternation at the idea of having to pay a faith formation fee for her child’s religious education. The idea of having to support the church financially seemed onerous to her. The Council member helped her to understand that Holy Family Parish depends on the funds parishioners provide in order to pay staff salaries/ benefits, utilities, maintenance costs, supplies and much more. Holy Family cannot not operate without parishioners’ contributions. The truth is, Faith Formation fees cover only a portion of the costs of that area of ministry. The parish doesn’t receive support from the state or the Archdiocese, but only from local parishioners who contribute to their parish.

When we go to the store, we look for a bargain and feel we’ve made out well when we’ve had to pay only a portion of what the product usually costs. What a deal! Could some people look similarly at the financial dimension of church membership since the “cost of admission” is not specified? It’s true, you can get what you want at Mass for free! However, contributing to the support of the Church provides the means necessary to advance the mission of Jesus Christ in our part of His vineyard. Our contribution in the Sunday collection at Mass represents our sacrificial offering to God in union with the gifts of bread and wine, which are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ. We make a regular commitment to the support of our Church to allow Christ’s saving work to be accomplished locally. Mission, sacrifice, commitment, and discipleship are very different approaches to church life than one would have as a consumer.

The sad reality here at Holy Family is that for over a year now, we have not been meeting our weekly offertory collection budget, which funds our ordinary costs. Going forward, we’ll be including in the parish bulletin the actual amount we receive in the previous week’s offertory collection (including online giving contributions) as well as the amount we’ve budgeted weekly that is needed to meet our expenses. Some of our shortfall is undoubtedly due to a decrease in attendance over the course of the year. Another contributing factor is the mobile lifestyle many parishioners have, which takes them away from the parish periodically. I invite you to prayerfully reflect on your approach to giving to Holy Family Parish. I also ask that you seriously consider making a recurring donation using online giving, which will help assure that we receive a consistent source of support each week. Thank you for what you may be doing already to generously and consistently contribute to the support of our parish.

God bless you!
Fr. Bob

BACK TO LIST