September 12, 2010
Dear Parishioners:
This insert in today's Bulletin provides you with a report
on the St. Louis Parish finances for the fiscal year ended
June 30, 2010.
As we have done in the past, to provide greater context and
comparability, the Fiscal 2010 Income Statement
includes amounts from the prior fiscal year. In addition, the
Income Statement is presented on a comprehensive basis by
including Non-operating revenue items, so that you have a full
picture of all revenue sources that benefit the Parish. In
addition, the June 30, 2010 balance sheet is
presented, which shows the cash and liability position of the
Parish as of that date.
As noted in our prior year communications, please note that
the St. Louis Parish balance sheet does not include fixed
assets (i.e., balances for the church and other buildings,
including the Rand Place residence, owned by the Parish). As
with many smaller and older not-for-profit organizations and
in order to keep its accounting simple, St. Louis had followed
an accounting practice of not capitalizing its fixed asset
additions over the years. Accordingly, the balance sheet does
not reflect such assets, nor does the income statement contain
any depreciation charges relating thereto.
From an operating perspective, the Parish experienced
essentially a break-even operating performance for Fiscal 2010
(a loss of $407), as compared to an operating surplus of
$130,462 for the 2009 Fiscal year, the largest components of
change being the year-over-year increases in the Catholic
School Tuition Subsidy, General Parish, and Facilities
Maintenance expense categories. On the positive side, please
note the significant year-over-year improvement in the St.
Louis investment portfolio, from a portfolio loss of $244,804
in Fiscal 2009 to a gain of $164,815.
The pie charts
show the sources of revenue and expense for the Parish.
Noteworthy is that our revenues come overwhelmingly from the
weekly collections (69% of total revenues), while our major
expenses are in the areas of Catholic School Support (27% of
total expenses), General Parish (20%), and Facilities
Maintenance (11%), with the rest of our expenses directed
towards Christian Formation, Church Liturgy, Tithing, Pastoral
Care, and other ministries.
Though we are already well into our 2011 fiscal year, your
continued generous support is critical. As in your personal
budget, the Parish, too, continues to face cost increases in
such expense areas as insurance, healthcare, and utilities.
The Parish’s ability to absorb these cost increases is heavily
dependent on increases in donations and sacrificial giving to
the Parish. Of course, there are some who are simply unable to
increase their giving due to family expenses, being on a fixed
income, or experiencing employment issues – making it all the
more important that the rest of us do our best for the Parish
at this time.
Our goal continues to be that every household participates
in sacrificial giving to St. Louis Parish to the extent they
are able. We sincerely thank those of you who do currently
participate, and earnestly request those of you who are not
regular contributors to join in the Stewardship of Treasure.
Of the 1,991 registered families at Saint Louis, 70% give on a
regular basis (envelopes or automatic withdrawal). If you
would like to consider automatic withdrawal as a user-friendly
way of sacrificial giving, please contact Birdie Proctor
(586-5675) at the Ministry Center for more information.
Your commitment to the Stewardship of Treasure allows us to
support people in need in our community. We provide ministry
to the sick, care for the grieving, and support for the
unemployed. Our efforts at fostering the formation of our
young people continues to be strong: our Catholic school
remains very stable as we enter a new school year; this fall
our Faith Formation programs will offer enriching
opportunities for families with children; and our Teens will
be invited this year to new ways of learning and serving. All
thanks to what you have so generously offered.
In each of the past 2 years, we have arranged to have an
open Parish meeting to discuss the Parish finances. In these
meetings, Ed Kay has presented an overview of the Parish
finances, and both Ed and Father Kevin answered questions
regarding financial and other matters. We plan on again having
such a meeting at a date to be announced later this Fall.
At this juncture, I would like to express my appreciation to
both Ed Kay and Jim Schnell -- to Ed, who is stepping down
after his ten years of service as the Chair of the St. Louis
Finance Council, and to Jim, who will be assuming the Finance
Council Chair responsibilities. Many thanks.
Finally and importantly, we want to thank you, the
parishioners of St. Louis, for your tremendous support that
this financial report reflects. While we face challenging
times, we face the future with great confidence, given the
generosity of the People of St. Louis. Many thanks.
May the Good Lord bless you for the many ways you share your
Time, Talent, and Treasure!
Father Kevin Murphy, Pastor
Ed Kay, Chair of Finance Council (outgoing)
Jim Schnell, Chair of Finance Council
(incoming)