As you look through this week's bulletin, you'll notice the financial report for the parish. The report is two pages, with the first page being the data and the second page being summary account descriptions. The intent is to make the report as understandable to parishioners as possible. For smaller parishes without a school, the financial reports are self-explanatory. However, for a large parish like St Peter, the financial reports are not self-explanatory.
Much thanks to all who financially contribute to the operation of the parish! Your weekly and monthly giving are deeply appreciated by us priests and all who benefit from the parish ministries, which includes the school. May God bless you, today and always! Thanks also goes to the Finance Council members. Their insights and contributions are greatly appreciated by me. Finally, thank you to the ladies in the Finance Department, who are themselves parishioners. I am grateful for their special work and dedication.
A few things to know as you are looking at the report. First, the parish financials are given for the previous three years. Normally I would provide the previous two years, the most recent year and the previous year for comparison. But with this being the first report you have received in a few years, I thought it would be helpful to be able to compare the last several years. In the future, you will receive a financial report about this time each year. The absence of the last several years is due to the busyness of the transition to a tri-parish configuration, especially the forming of one finance office for all three parishes and standardization of the accounting and procedures.
Second, you'll notice for each year the net income/loss is provided along with an ADJUSTED net income/loss. The first is the standard format on all financial reports, whereas the second isn't. The first reports the total income minus the total expense without any other considerations. This represents all accounting transactions within each fiscal year. This number is important but it does not necessarily represent the normal parish income/expense for the year, which is important for determining whether a parish has a healthy ratio of normal income and expense.
The ADJUSTED income/expense takes into consideration uncommon income like grants or bequests and uncommon expenses like replacement of a roof or a boiler. It also takes into consideration circumstances where income occurs in one year and the corresponding expense occurs in another year, such as the Living Christ Campaign. Each of these are reported in the normal income/expense lines and make it difficult to determine if the parish normal expenses are exceeding its normal income. This isn't as important for a parish that has large cash reserves to cover the extra expenses. However, a parish with little or no cash reserves should not allow its normal expense to exceed its normal income. Such a parish needs to build its cash reserves to be ready for unexpected expenses.
Lastly, analysis of specific numbers and trends will be provided in next week’s bulletin. Thank you for all the ways you contribute to the work of the Church, including your financial giving.
Gratefully,
Fr. Miller