That “Grand” Time Again…

Thanks to your generosity, as well as the hard work of both Parish Finance Councils, our Business Manager Bill Nash, and the rest of the staff, the annual financial reports contain some good news in both of our parishes for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2017. While in Wrentham we anticipated more than $32,000 in deficit, the actual deficit at St. Mary Parish was $12,000 less. We are forecasting a repeat of this year’s actual deficit, but perhaps we can improve that situation too. In Plainville we had an even greater accomplishment: St. Martha Parish did not have a deficit for the first time in years! The forecasted deficit of $7,000 turned into actual savings of over $14,000 - which allows us to start replacing some of the savings we had spent. Congratulations to the people of St. Martha for this accomplishment! You also give the people of St. Mary reason for hope to be out of a deficit soon, especially as we pay down the building loan.

We are changing slightly the way we conduct the fall fundraising for both of our parishes. At the recommendation of the staff and Collaborative Pastoral Council, and with the endorsement of both Parish Finance Councils, we have decided to separate the “Grand Annual” and the “Offertory Pledge” components of our parish support, and to reduce the number of talks given at Mass about these campaigns. Our hope is that postponing the Offertory Pledge process until late fall will make things clearer and simpler for everyone. This week we are kicking-off the Parish Grand Annual with mailings that will be sent to all households, including the annual financial report. The Grand Annual is the traditional year-end collection that many parishes run to fund maintenance projects and to help cover the shortfall in Offertory collections. We hope people will see this as an opportunity for charitable giving before the end of the 2017 tax year. There will be no special talk at Mass for the Grand Annual this year, but we need your commitment to remain faithful to this collection, which we ask people to submit the weekend of October 14-15 (or split into two payments by year end). And the sooner we meet our goals, the fewer Grand Annual reminders you’ll hear!

Finally, I take this opportunity each year to thank our Business Manager and the members of both Parish Finance Councils (PFCs) for their dedication to being good stewards of our finances on behalf of all parishioners: from the St. Martha PFC, Ron Garron (chair), Tom Hines, Kathy Parker, and Tom Pearl; from the St. Mary PFC, Janet Frye (chair), Fran Ahern, Chris DeFrank, Josh Person, and Pat Zeller. Together with Bill Nash, you all are indispensable to our accountability to use wisely the gifts God has given us through our parishioners!