November/December 2003
"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! For his love endures forever!" (Ps. 107)
This
recurring theme in the Bible is especially appropriate as we prepare
for the Thanksgiving holiday. We have much to be thankful for in our
diocese. Our priests, deacons, sisters, lay ministers and volunteers
are dedicated to serving the needs of a growing Catholic population.
And while that growth is a blessing, it doesn't come without
challenges. These are the challenges that I want to address in this
message. Most of what I'm about to say was treated in the video or
audio message that was presented in your parish the first or second
Sunday in November. But for the sake of those who may have missed it,
as well as to reinforce it for those who heard it in church, I want to
present this summary.
For the present fiscal year,
our diocese is experiencing a financial shortfall of $1.3 million. We
are not alone. All the Florida dioceses are running deficits, resulting
in employee layoffs, curtailment of programs, or an increase of parish
assessment quota/
Our present deficit is due to three factors:
- $700,000
- the subsidy needed to operate our new high schools. Until a school
reaches full enrollment, tuition must be bolstered with outside
funding. (Bishop Kenny High School. Would never have survived its first
20 years without help from the surrounding parishes.)
- $400
- the subsidy for our vocation program. One of the components of The
Opportunity of a Lifetime Campaign was a $2 million endowment for this
purpose. But for that to happen, many pledges must still be redeemed,
and the stock market must generate the necessary interest.
- $200,000
- to replace the roofs on the main building and on the three dorm
buildings at Marywood Retreat Center, all of which have developed
serious leaks.
How can we together
meet this challenge? I emphasize the word "together," because too
often, there appears to be a rift between the parishes and the diocese.
At times, parishes view the diocese as an adversary: "us" versus
"them." Let me remind you that we are a family, and since we are a
family, then we should bear in mind what St. Paul told the Christians
at Corinth: "There should be no division in the body (of the
Church)...If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; and if one
part is honored, all the parts share its joy" (1 Cor. 12:25-26).
Now
to answer the question: How are we going to meet the present challenge
together? There are only three choices: 1) Increase income. 2) Reduce
spending. 3) Some combination of the two. I have decided on the third
option.
First, the diocese will commit itself to
reduce spending. Diocesan ministries have already met, and we are
presently studying ways to trim our respective budgets.
The
parishes, in turn, are asked to give more help with the annual
assessment until the present deficit has been resolved. A new quota
formula has been developed that will no longer be referred to as a
"tax," but rather promoted as "sharing arrangement." The diocese and
parishes are all members of the same family. And family members aren't
taxed; they share. The method of sharing will be equitable for all
parishes, both large and small. See the box to the left for specifics.
The following two points are significant:
- There
will be no Stewardship Appeal this spring. In the future, the
Stewardship Appeal will be conducted in the fall of each year.
- It's
crucial that those parishes that are using the Diocesan Stewardship
envelopes, continue to do so throughout 2004. Our calculations have
been based on the income that was pledged in last spring's Stewardship
Appeal.
In closing, I would like to
stress how important it is that we approach stewardship with grateful
hearts. Once we realize how much God has blessed us, we will want to
repay in kind. And the Lord will never be outdone in generosity.
"You
remember the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich,
yet for your sakes he became poor, so that through his poverty, you
might become rich" (2 Cor. 8:9).
TWO LEVELS OF PARISH SHARING
- 10% on the first $200,000 of income
- 18% on all income over $200,000
- Categories:
offertory, building funds, bequests and special donations (capped at
$100,000), interest, dividends, rents, stewardship appeal and
miscellaneous.
- Exemptions: national collections,
mortgage payments; first $100,000 of school subsidy, poor box, votive
lights, bingo and bazaars.
+ Victor Galeone,
Bishop of St. Augustine
