The Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 26, 2025
Included with our bulletin today is the annual parish financial report. I am grateful to God for all who support Saint John the Evangelist Church. Not only do we have an exceptionally beautiful church, we have an important ministry. Our parish offers a warm and holy welcome to Center City residents, visitors and workers. Our church is open all week and we have lots of Masses and opportunities for confession. And our parish supports a busy ministry to the patients of Thomas Jefferson Hospital. All this and more is possible because of your support.
I pray regularly for our benefactors. I am very grateful for those whose donations keep Saint John’s open. The only way I can repay them is by prayer.
Here are a few comments and highlights on the financial situation at Saint John’s:
- Overall we had a good year. Our income was more than our expenses. Not only did we pay our expenses this year, we initiated a successful capital campaign to pay for essential repairs. The letters that often accompany donations are heartening in that the donors describe their life long love for Saint John’s and their commitment to keep this unique church open. Please note how important weddings are to the support of Saint John’s. Without our 70-80 weddings each year we cannot meet our expenses. However, weddings are not just a fundraiser but are an important ministry to young Catholics and an investment in the future of the Catholic Church.
- Saint John’s will now have to pay the Archdiocese annual assessment: The Archdiocese is supported by an assessment of 12.5% on all collections on from all parishes. For many years, because Saint John’s has been a poor parish, barely making ends meet, we have been exempt from the Archdiocesan tax or assessment. However, the Archdiocese has now determined that Saint John’s is now on a firm financial footing, and that we can and must pay the tax. The tax is based on donations from the year past. This means that in fiscal year 2025-26, we must pay to the Archdiocese $59,975 (let’s round up to $60,000). If this $60,000 had been paid last year, along with our annual payment on our debt, we would have had a deficit. How can we pay $60,000 more and not go into deficit spending? Only by increasing donations or cutting costs or both. I am going to look for ways to cut costs and I ask you to do your best to support our church.
- Saint John’s Parish Debt: Some years ago and for several years, Saint John’s could not pay its insurance bills to the Archdiocese and had to borrow from the Archdiocese. Moreover, around 2008, Saint John’s borrowed money to repair its bell towers. In the past several years, we have paid down our debt quite a lot, from well over $1 Million to now $651,072. During fiscal year 2024-25, we paid $50,000. If this payment is deducted from our end of the year report, our surplus was actually $29,461, still a healthy fiscal year.
- Saint John’s Historic Preservation Fund: This fund was set up to assure that we can make repairs necessary to keep our church beautiful and well maintained. I am amazed that this fund has grown to $635,506. We have made repairs that could have been covered by this fund, but we have not used the fund, but were able to pay for repairs from current income. We did withdraw $50,000 as the initial seed money for our capital campaign. This money is available to pay for the shortfall in our capital campaign, but I hope that we will not have to use it.
- Capital Campaign Report: Saint John Church must make essential repairs to our electrical system, upper church air conditioning and deteriorating patio which houses our mechanical systems. Saint John’s can’t function without these systems. Please see our website for more information on our capital campaign: stjohnsphilly.org.
As of October 19:
Ordinary donations: $276,797
Pledges: $ 10,000
Large donations: $ 725,000
Historic Preservation Fund $50,000
All cash received plus pledges: $1,061,797
We are working with good architects and a project manager. I have confidence in our team. However, as our experts make solid plans and estimate costs, the price of this project grows, perhaps to as much as $1.4 Million. Of the money received, $500,000 came from one donor, a friend of mine and a parishioner of Holy Redeemer. He has never visited Saint John’s, but has made an amazing donation. Other Holy Redeemer parishioners have donated well over $100,000. Our Saint John’s parishioners and friends have made sacrificial donations for which I am grateful. But we still need support. Please note that donations to our capital campaign are NOT subject to the Archdiocesan assessment. Donations to the capital campaign will remain 100% with Saint John’s
