Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Each year, around this time, I offer an update on our parish finances and stewardship. The Thanksgiving season always seems appropriate to look back over the past year with gratitude for the blessings the parish has received. The details for this year’s update can be found below, including the report for this past fiscal year for the parish and school.
Here, let me simply say thank you for your great generosity over this past year:
Thank you for your gifts each week in our Sunday offertory. Your generosity sustained us through another year that was filled with so many activities, projects, repairs, and programs around campus.
Thank you for your generosity with our St. Vincent de Paul food pantry and poor box collections. So many of our neighbors look to St. John for regular support through our food pantry and financial assistance programs. Your gifts have made real differences in the lives of hundreds of families this past year.
Thank you for the time you give to serve in our many parish ministries. We are blessed to have such an active and vibrant parish with ministries that offer opportunities for prayer, community, spiritual growth, fellowship and support.
Thank you for the special and extraordinary gifts you have made to our parish over this past year. In addition to the many regular ways you give of your time, talent, and treasure, there are many special and extraordinary gifts you give as needs arise such as serving at our Winter Relief Shelter, generously giving to the Spring Gala Fundraiser, and helping with our annual Advent Market.
Often, parishioners are curious where the giving comes from that supports our parish. With the help of our finance team, we dug into the numbers a bit to share with you an interesting overview of our parish giving. As you can see in the first chart below, 65% of our parish offertory comes from 20% of our parishioners. The second chart gives a little more of a breakdown in terms of the level of giving by families. In looking at this, please know how grateful I am for your generosity with the parish! We have been able to accomplish so much over this past year because of your generous gifts - thank you!
As we approach Thanksgiving, I am so grateful to the Lord for the gift of being able to serve as your pastor and for the daily inspiration of your faith and love. Thank you! May God bless our parish family as we continue to follow after the Lord Jesus.
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Erik Arnold
Data Analysis on FY 2022-2023 Giving
Chart #1 (above):
20% of parishioners contribute 65% of the total offertory
