As many of you know, Saint John the Evangelist operates on a fiscal year structure that begins July 1 and ends on June 30 of the following year. We have just completed our Fiscal Year 2016 and have begun our Fiscal Year 2017 this past week. In upcoming bulletins, even if it is a little dry, I will be providing you all the details of our financial progress over the past year and the picture of this year’s new budget. However, I wanted to use this small introduction time frame to communicate a few priorities.
It is true that the Diocese of Venice imposes a 26% assessment on all our operational income. That means that the financial gifts you provide to this parish, or any in this area, may be impacted by this assessment. This is a normal process, and our Diocese is by no means the highest assessment in the country. This money does go to serve some very significant efforts for our area, including Catholic Charities and the seminarian programs.
There are several ways to provide your gifts that would not be impacted by this assessment, and these may be ways you could consider giving as part of your offertory. The first is to give to our Capital Campaign. Every single dollar, whether in the blue envelopes, from a pledge, or given to the campaign office, goes toward our buildings and programs without assessment through March of 2018. We are developing an endowment with those funds as well, which will support the operations of the parish, without assessment, for decades to come. The second way to give without assessment is through the Catholic Faith Appeal. All your giving to the Catholic Faith Appeal goes towards our goal provided by the Diocese, and once we reach that goal and exceed it, we get to keep all the overage for our Parish Family.
When you are planning your gifts to St. John, I would ask that you consider these two options as part of your overall giving so we can maximize the impact of the blessings and resources of our Parish Family to achieve our mission, To Know, To Love, and To Serve God, in His Church and Our Community.