Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 4, 2026
A summary of our 2025-26 operating financial report is included in today's bulletin, along with a comparison with last year's (2024-25) financial report.
Here are a few comments to consider as you review this report:
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We are in deficit spending! We are spending from our savings.
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In previous years, we were exempt from the Archdiocesan 12.5% assessment or tax. This year, we were required to pay $60,287 to the Archdiocese. This is about the same amount as our deficit.
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However, we only paid $10,000 on our debt, considerably less than the $50,000 we have paid in past years. It seems that we cannot pay both the assessment and our debt.
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The report is somewhat skewed because of our capital campaign. I have given regular reports on the capital campaign in this bulletin. Note that capital campaign donations and expenses are NOT included in this operating report. Over the past two years, we have raised $1.7 Million (including $350,000 withdrawn from our Historic Preservation Fund) for our Capital Campaign. Thank you to everyone who has made sacrificial gifts.
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Socials and donations income is down mostly because discretionary donations have been directed to our capital campaign. Given the diversion of some donations to the capital campaign, our income over the past two years has stayed about the same, slightly lower but not much lower.
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Over the past several years, we have reduced the number of employees.
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The amount for utilities has increased by almost $19,000. Our heating costs to Vicinity increased by $12,000 over the previous year. Vicinity is our only option since we have steam heat. It was a brutal winter. The cost of our heat last winter for the church and friary was much higher. Electricity, water, and phone/cable did not increase significantly. We paid $6,000 more for utilities to Connelly House (Project Home) than the previous year. We don't pay rent on our offices, but we pay a pro-rated part of the utilities for the building. The increase in cost for our parish center offices is due to the timing of our payment of utility bill payments, not an increase in cost.
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We still have $390,000 in our Historic Preservation Fund. We may have to spend some of this for our capital project. However, we expect to receive about $300,000 from a pending estate.
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We have delayed some repairs because we are saving everything we can for our capital project. After the project is finished, we will have ongoing maintenance costs
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Our capital project team projects that we can begin our capital project in November and that the project will take 16 weeks. My experience is that these estimates are not always accurate. But we are close to starting.
Going forward, we ask our parishioners and friends to be more generous to our operating fund. After the project is completed, we will have less money in savings and our expenses will not decrease. Saint John's is worth supporting. We are grateful for all donations. And we ask everyone to continue to be generous.
