Dear Parishioners:
Last month we sent our Annual Financial Report for the Fiscal Year, July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021, to Bishop Tobin. A summary of the report is in this weekend’s bulletin for your review. Our Parish Trustees and Finance Council approved the report, which was also reviewed by our Parish Auditors, Paul St. Onge, and Ed Loiselle.
The news is good for the fiscal and financial stability and vitality of our parish. The budget collection increased by $40,000 during this period, while our expenses decreased by $35,000. Also, the Annual Collection last year increased by $16,000. However, we had to increase the subsidy to our parish school to $100,000.
Much of our additional costs during this period were due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Pandemic increased maintenance costs and salaries. Also, the Pandemic affected the school budget with a slight decline in enrollment and a decrease in income from our afterschool program.
Thankfully we benefited from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which provided us with a loan of $400,000 for payroll and benefits costs during the Pandemic. We split the loan between the school and parish, $280,000 for the school and $120,000 for the parish. This loan was recently forgiven by the Small Business Administration and is included in our operating results for this fiscal year.
You will also notice the payment of $282,000 from the Grateful for God’s Providence Capital Campaign, which began at OLM in 2019. This payment results from the faithful fulfillment of pledges towards the total of $1.85 million pledged. We have also paid the Diocese their portion in the amount of $235,000.
We are now completing our second year of the pledge campaign. Over the last two years, the GGP Campaign has financed many capital improvement projects. The projects include new roofs and boilers at the convents, a partial new roof and new gutters on the school, a new boiler in the rectory, and a new security camera system in the parish. The cost of these projects was $135,000.
We are finalizing the bid on our new doors and hope to have more information soon. The GGP Campaign will also finance this project. Other infrastructure projects we expect to complete in the coming year include new parking lots and a new road in St. Patrick Cemetery.
I thank the many parishioners who so generously support our parish. We couldn’t be the vital and faithful parish we are without your tremendous financial support. We are grateful for this support that sustains the faith and good works of OLM.
We also sent our Status Animarum (Status of Souls) Report to the Bishop last month. It provides the statistics for the sacramental life of the parish. Currently, there are 1,872 families registered at OLM. Of this number, just over 800 financially support the parish, and unfortunately even fewer attend Sunday Mass regularly.
Forty baptisms occurred last year, including one adult. Sadly we laid to rest forty-eight fellow parishioners. We had nine couples happily enter into the Sacrament of Matrimony. And fifty-seven children received First Communion, and sixty-three young adults received the Sacrament of Confirmation.
These statistics show us the vitality of our parish over the last year. Of course, it was a year in which we lived with a pandemic. Happily, the Pandemic is subsiding, and we are returning to a more normal way of life. We continue to see more people coming back to Mass and more interest in our parish school and religious education program.
While many parishioners are not including the worship of God at weekly Sunday Mass in their schedule, they are returning to the local shops and restaurants, gun ranges and golf courses, soccer fields, and ice rinks, and even Gillette Stadium. We must invite them back and encourage our family, friends, neighbors, and fellow parishioners to join us at Mass every Sunday.
Remind them that not only God but also all of us truly miss them! Together we must all put Mass back on the schedule on Sundays! “It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do without Holy Mass,” said St. Padre Pio. How right he is!
Be well. Stay safe. Do good. God Bless. Go Pats!