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)