"Preach
     the Gospel
       always, and
    when necessary
    use words"
      - St Francis of Assisi -
 

Dioces of Lansing Faith Magazine

Annual Report  -- August 2007

Dear fellow parishioners:

It is once again time to report on the finances of St. Francis parish. You will find a link to the Statement of Financial Operations at the bottom of this letter. There is a good and not-so-good side to this report.

First, the good: We ended the fiscal year barely in the black. Despite the very slow economy of our area, we were able to do this for two reasons: First, your generosity in Sunday contributions. Second, the staff cut spending. It is our policy to never spend more than our income allows. Despite these spending cuts we were still able to do some necessary upkeep to our aging buildings. A major capital improvement was the new roof on the Parish Activities Center. This was the first new roof on that building since it was built in 1982.

Now for the not-so-good side: For this coming fiscal year, we are looking at a probable deficit. Despite the fact that our Parish Finance Council and staff prepared the budget with the slow economy in mind, there are certain expenditures that we have little control over – for example, health care costs rose ten percent. So, to get directly to the point: I am asking you to be a little more generous in your giving to St. Francis.

St. Francis is a great parish community with outreach to the poor, fine educational and formational programs for its 1700 young people, and excellent spiritual growth, support, and worship experiences for its adults. We are what Christ asks us to be as a Catholic parish. To do this requires the sacrifice of your financial support. Your financial giving is just one very specific way of living your faith. I ask you to take this responsibility seriously. I ask you to increase your contributions. 

God calls us to tithe- give 10% to the church and the poor. How close are you coming to this? I know that an increase in giving will be a sacrifice. But our faith and our parish are important.

Sincerely,

Fr. Jim McDougall
Pastor

PS. If you haven't already started it, I encourage you to consider Direct Debit Giving. You decide how much you wish to give each month and your bank automatically deducts it from your account and sends it to St. Francis. It's simple to set up. For more information call the Parish Business Manager (821-2111).

• Statement of Financial Operations for July 1, 2006 — June 30, 2007
• Annual Reports from previous years