Fr. Don’s Weekly Letter ~ 26 January 2025

Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,

This week we will be sending out our end-of-the-year financial statements to all registered parishioners so that we make sure that our records match your records of your charitable giving. It is also an opportunity for me to offer to you our gratitude, my gratitude, for your support of the mission of the parish, as well as to ask the parish for wider support in trying to keep our weekly offertory at least in line with rising expenses, which we all know too well.

The thing “they” don’t tell you in seminary is that you are going to be responsible for a business with a $6+ million annual budget. Fortunately, I had a little business experience prior to going to the seminary, but a parish doesn’t follow a usual business model with countable products or service hours to sell: it relies entirely on the goodwill and generosity of you, the people who belong.

It is an integral part of living our faith, supporting the church which shapes our lives. No matter how large or small the gift, it is a responsibility shared by every member.

We have about 4,100 families registered at Saint Bernadette, and a little less than half having no record of financial giving this year. Of course, we give in many other ways, too, by giving time to volunteering and service, by using your talents to give back to God in ways that can build up the kingdom. For that we are grateful.

In doing our ten-year projection for the new building we have discovered that, at its current rate of growth, our Sunday offertory for the parish may not keep up with the cost of living in the years ahead, whether we were building a Parish Hall or not. So I am asking you to give, if you are not, and consider helping us meet the annual 3% rise in expenses – and be ready for the additional maintenance costs of the new building. Anything you can do will be appreciated.

In a spirit of transparency, we need to enhance our weekly collections to illustrate our strong ability to move forward with construction. We are exactly where we need to be with regard to the building campaign.

When I was a kid at Christ the King elementary school in Kansas City, we weren’t rich but my dad would always take the first $20 bill and set it aside for Sunday. When we were kids my dad worked for the newspaper and went to night school to get his college degree. My mom worked hard at home.

That $20 was in their budget. Back in those days, that was a generous amount (It is considered a good amount today!). Then, if you had a regular contribution to the parish collection, Monsignor Kearney would provide discounts on school tuition for families.

I don’t know how much tuition was then, my guess would be it was about 5% of the cost today, probably $400. Today, as a primary mission of our parish to provide a Catholic education for our children, we close the $1,200 gap for all our Catholic students between the tuition parents pay and the cost of educating each child. That $1,200 comes from your donations, the monthly Tuition Assistance second collection, and the operating budgets of the church and school.

I realize that a lot is coming up, and it seems like everyone is asking for money too often, but this is not a big ask. I ask only that you let your commitment to faith and the church be an active, visible expression of stewardship, supporting what is good, and holy, and true, the place where you can always be at home and find God, peace and calm in the middle of so many storms.

While I’m thinking of it, thanks and congratulations to our wonderful teachers and staff, Dr. Burgess, Mrs. Reid and their admin team, and our priests for a great year as we celebrate Catholic Schools Week this week. We have fun events and activities throughout the week as our school family grows together and we shape the future not only of our church, but of our society.

The Lord be with you.