I am sure that all of us have wondered where the offertory goes that we contribute to the church. The following examples are to illustrate just some of the costs of operating St. Teresa of Avila. It is a large complex and is not inexpensive to operate.

We pay over $26,000 per month on our outstanding loans! We are assessed a tax by the Diocese of $12,500 per month to cover the Diocesan programs, and we are assessed by the Augusta Deanery over $50,000 per year for helping with Catholic school and other ministries; this is payable quarterly. We pay up to $9,000 per month to Georgia Power for electricity and maintenance of our grounds is $50,000 per year. Parish payroll is approximately 31% of our collections (Religious, Ministerial Support Staff, and Maintenance Staff), and Parish Programs/Committees account for 10% of our collections. All of these payments come out of the “Offertory”!

We put all monies donated to the Building Fund in savings to prepare for our future Sanctuary.
 
The parish weekly offertory has been growing slowly over the last three years, increasing an additional $250/week each year over the previous year. This growth is barely able to keep pace with our increasing expenses in operating the current building complex. There are bright spots, however: it IS growing in somewhat tough economic conditions; we have built a rectory without borrowing any additional money; we have paid off a significant portion of the debt from when we first moved to this site; we are starting to accumulate some savings towards a future Sanctuary; we donated over $70,000 to special collections this last year; we have established an excellent Mothers Day Out program that is paying for itself; and we gave over $100,000 to local Charities and special collections. At the same time we continue to struggle toward approaching our allotted goal for the Bishop's Annual Appeal and fall far short in donations to cover the Diocesan newspaper for each family in the Parish. 
 
Currently we can comfortably maintain the status quo for years to come as we have resources that will adequately cover projected maintenance costs (long term estimate of about $130,000 per year based on a 50 year depreciation of the facility). We will be able to continue to sustain those costs after we complete paying the current debt, which will take about 3+ years to complete at the current rate.  
 
For St. Teresa of Avila to step forward to a new sanctuary requires a basic rethinking of our giving as a parish.  A significant building brings with it not only substantial initial short term fund raising costs but also sustained long term debt payments (10-15 years), increased utility costs, and increased maintenance expenses.  Utility costs would rise by approximately 33%; and long term maintenance expenses by 50% or more. If we are to achieve this common dream we need to act on faith now to build our weekly giving to a level that will sustain this vision when it is built.  This does not mean that we would spend that additional income at this time but rather place it in savings to accelerate the fruition of the dream. To be financially stable we need to move to a new threshold on our offertory giving at approximately $40,000/month over our current giving level by the time we completed the new sanctuary. It is not reasonable to assume that after a major capital campaign that the congregation would suddenly begin increasing our giving by that amount overnight...it must come gradually – growing our commitment as an intentional decision based on faith! 
 
It would seem we have perhaps gotten complacent with the status quo.  We need to step out in faith not just for an eventual short term capital campaign, but for sustainable growth in our parish. Yes, the economy is down and individuals within our parish have and are continuing to deal day to day with financial hardships. However, Columbia County continues to be one of the best economic places in the State of Georgia with significant housing construction with new families and our community population continues to grow. We need to actively seek out these new people to become active in our congregation. We need to focus on our long term plan for the parish and commit to the challenge individually and as a parish!

Next week’s bulletin will have the current financial information.

Sincerely,
Bob Amy