Giving > Receiving

08-08-2021Letter from the PastorFr. Don Kline, V.F.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Mother Teresa knew that it is in giving that we receive, dying that we are born to eternal life. She was called to live the words of St. Paul: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” I just wanted to thank you, the extraordinarily generous stewards of our community who remained stalwart supporters of our beloved parish, even when your jobs and livelihoods could have been in pandemic jeopardy. I was so inspired by you. May God bless you for your generosity!

This is also a good time to relay how your contributions are stewarded. It begins each spring when our parish staff plans our budget for the next fiscal year. Last year, we created a leaner budget to correspond with an uncertain world climate. The careful management of your tithing by our parish staff, combined with your generosity led to solid footing for our parish as we closed the fiscal year this summer. As your pastor, I breathed a sigh of relief and prayed prayers of thanksgiving!

This year’s budgeting process was convened in May. For the past several years, our strategy has been to have department heads present their budgets to the staff, along with a narrative that helps all of us build mission-focused budgets in our ministries. This allows us to scrutinize our spending in light of our overall mission.

In many ways, it is like putting together a home budget, on a much larger scale of course. At home, you budget for utilities, food, clothing and maybe a home improvement project. At the parish we do exactly the same. As we budget for the parish, we trust and pray that you have included us in your fiscal planning. In the end, this is what stewardship is about, that you see the work of your family and our parish family as one seamless garment that is in need of your support.

I was proud of our staff as they built this year’s budget. It is solid. We have discerned that our budget needs to be slightly increased by approximately 5% over last year’s budget. This is amazing since it takes into account the reduced parish activities last year. We hope and pray that your support will continue so that we can continue to build beautiful things for God.

While we are most grateful for your stewardship in any form, to help us maintain a more consistent cash flow, we encourage the use of online giving. I can speak about this myself. For many years, as an employee of the parish, I have been able to have my tithe taken right out of my paycheck. I really like it that way because, it is a protected priority in my financial management. I like the fact that God receives his share first and then I consider my spending on needed personal priorities.

Parishioners currently tithing online tell us that it is a great help to them, too. It allows them to clearly budget the amount that they want to give back to God and helps them feel assured that their parish is receiving their tithe even when they are out-of-town or when they forget to consistently carry their envelope to mass and so on.

Please prayerfully consider setting up a recurring tithe through our online giving program! You can do so through our website at https://www.saintbernadette.com/give.

I cannot believe that we have arrived in August. In no time, kids will be returning to school. I hope you are able to carve out some family fun in the waning days of summer!

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