The spectacular income of gifts from our Parish Family was discussed last weekend, I always find our expenses, how we utilize those gifts, so incredibly interesting. Our normal expenses showcase the enormous tapestry of support, engagement, learning, healing, faith, connection, and excitement that is Saint John the Evangelist. The breadth and depth of St. John’s missionary, ministerial, liturgical, operational and functional environment is truly awe inspiring. We literally support tens of thousands of people in our Parish Family, the local community, and the world with the efforts of our volunteers, Ministries, staff, and clergy. The overall spending on all these good works can be seen as the Expenses of the parish. Of course, this year had unique and harrowing situations that we needed to focus our efforts on, especially our campus repairs from Hurricane Irma and our Pastoral Support to our Parish Family.
Just a few reminders to assist in understanding our Expenses, especially in relation to last week’s discussion of our Offertory Income:
- Our Expenses are the total amount spent by Saint John on all our efforts. That number is significantly larger than our Offertory collection, which is what we consider to be our Income. Your gifts for specific programs and events, along with special collections and second collections are not considered Income for the Parish, but we use that capital as you direct us to.
- Our Capital Campaign and our Catholic Faith Appeal are not considered Income to St. John (which is why they are not taxed by the Diocese), but any funds that we spend from those sources are part of our Expenses.
As you can see, we had an annual increase in overall expenses this past year of about 5%. However, if you remove the repair costs that we will not recover from the Diocese for our Hurricane Irma Damage (tree removal, irrigation and exterior damage, etc.), our actual Expenses are only $3,033,837.85, which is actually a decrease of overall expenses by 3%. We also decreased our overall salary cost to the Parish Family substantially. It only accounts for 26% of our expenses this year, as opposed to 30% last year (and is significantly below the national average of church salaries accounting for 40% to 50% of their annual expenses). There we some significant investments in our future that we made this past year, aside from the hurricane repairs:
- NET Missionaries: We completed our second year of support to the Parish Family with the NET Team, whose young adults engage our youth, families, and the whole community with active missionary zeal and love for bringing the personal relationship with Jesus alive for so many.
- Over $100,000 in direct support was provided to Catholic Charities here in Collier County to feed, house, and clothe families impacted by Irma and that is only the donations in money, not the enormous amount of donations of diapers, clothing, food, water, and countless other items donated through St. John.
- CYO and CAO Program Development: We have begun the activities and programs that will enliven the Pulte Family Life Center and our overall campus for every age group and for every interest. In order to accomplish this and have the building full of activities when we finally get the approval to open from the County, we needed to purchase infrastructure and tools that will be used for years to come. Everything from footballs to keyboards will be able to be used in the Life Center and function for years to come.
Again, like last weekend, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out and speak with me. We are excited for Fiscal Year 2019, which will bring a host of new opportunities to enliven our faith and live out our Mission here at St. John.