Recently I told someone that “Saint John’s is a poor parish”. The person I was speaking with was surprised and said that she thought that Saint John’s was a rich parish because the church is so beautiful and so well maintained.
Overall Center City parishes struggle to stay afloat financially. Each year our income barely covers our expenses. Nevertheless, we do make it a priority to maintain our church, to fix roof leaks, repair the ceiling and do other necessary repairs, not defer maintenance. It costs us to keep the church open every day and to provide excellent music for Sunday liturgies. I believe in our mission of being a Catholic presence for prayer, worship and charity in the heart of Center City. One of us priests holds the hospital pager for Jefferson Hospital every day, all day, and we are present at several death beds each week. We also do daily rounds among Catholic patients. When you support Saint John’s, you sustain something good and holy.
Weddings keep Saint John’s open. If we had to rely only on donations, we could not meet our expenses. However, we don’t welcome weddings only for income; I and our staff do our best to evangelize young adults by offering warm hospitality to people who ask to be married here. People who attend weddings at Saint John’s appreciate our care for them.
We now have estimates of what it will cost to repair or replace the crumbling patio deck behind the church and to replace the air conditioning and electrical transformers that are housed under that deck. It is going to cost about one million dollars! I have no idea how we can raise this sort of money.
We have a bit more than a half a million dollars in our Historic Preservation Fund. We have not withdrawn any money from that fund and we have paid for our church preservation repairs from current funds. I don’t want to use those funds for our major capital project, but we may have to. Even that won’t be enough.
As far as I can tell, if we solve our current capital need, Saint John’s Church is set for the next 25 years or more. I don’t foresee another major capital project, since our church and friary are in good shape, though there will always be necessary repairs for our old but beautiful buildings.
About one third to fifty percent of our Sunday congregation are visitors. And at least a quarter of our Sunday congregation are young adults, including many students. I am proud that so many young adults choose to attend Mass at Saint John’s. This means, however, that Saint John’s major support comes from a small number of committed parishioners.
We are not ready to begin our capital campaign and we have some time, not much, but some time, before we face an emergency because of our crumbling patio and our aging AC and electrical system. But we do have to act in the next year or two.
So for now, please be as generous to Saint John’s as you can. I love Saint John’s and I am committed to keeping our parish open and vibrant for many years to come.
