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Dear Parishioners: The time has come for me to present to all of you the Annual Report of St. Rita Parish for the first time as administrator. While the report is from before my time being appointed as administrator (the report covers July 1, 2017-June 30, 2018), I still have the important responsibility to report to you everything that happened during this past year. While the financial and administrative parts of running a parish can be very overwhelming, especially to someone who is a first-time administrator/pastor (like me!) I had the advantage that I was associate pastor for the past 2 years and also attended most of the finance committee meetings during that time. While this report is primarily focused on the finances of our parish, I want to take a moment to touch on other aspects of our parish and what happened during fiscal year 2017-2018 because for me, an annual report needs to be much more than just numbers. We need to emphasize and be proud of all the good we accomplished during this year. Listed below are just some of the highlights I would like to mention and photos from all these activities are throughout this booklet. Near the beginning of the fiscal year, at the end of July, our former pastor Fr. Tony, needed to have his serious surgery and was in recovery until the middle of September. During this time, so many of you expressed your love and support of him with your prayers and thank God he made a full recovery. Thank you to the staff and all volunteers who helped me keep the parish going during that time We had a Ministry Fair at the end of August where our ministries came together in a great act of solidarity and we gained approximately 30 new ministers from this effort In September we had our Fiesta Mexicana which was more successful than any of us could have imagined. We raised over $8,000 (after expenses) and brought together approximately 2,000-2,500 people Thanks to your support, in November several members of our Youth Group were able to attend the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis and have an enriching experience among teens from across the country 3
Through our annual Christmas Giving Tree, you bought 150 gifts for the children of Fairfield Academy and for the organization Almost Home, which serves the homeless Our Virgin of Guadalupe novena was beautiful as always, thanks to each group who sponsored each night, as well as all those who came together and celebrated during the mañanitas and solemn Mass Thanks to Deacon Oscar and our various ministries, we celebrated for the first time 9 full nights of Posadas, complete with rosary, prayer, food and piñatas each night Our Religious Education program held various breakfasts to help raise funds for two field trips they took, one to see the relics of Mother Teresa, the other to the Shrine of Christ s Passion in Indiana We held our annual Valentine s Party in February and hundreds of you came and celebrated love and friendship Lent was filled with several activities, which included our Friday Via Crucis, led by our ministries, all of our Lenten Acts of Justice and Mercy, and our Annual Parish Retreat, with Fr. Hugo from Peru, attended by over 125 of you Our Paschal Triduum was well prepared and prayerful, with probably the most people ever attending our Via Crucis Viviente on Good Friday, hundreds of people from both St. Rita and St. Clare attending our first ever Procession of Silence, and welcoming 10 young people into our Church through their sacraments at the Easter Vigil 4 In April, our parish s Pastoral Migratoria received an honor from the Archdiocese for all their good work, including all their dedication with the Citizenship classes we offer. Through these classes, in 2017-18, we welcomed 58 people who are now new citizens of the United States, bringing the total to over 90 Through our Religious Education program, 53 children received their First Communion and 24 were Confirmed
We had another great community event with our St. Rita Feast, including the outdoor fiesta, three days of prayer in honor of our patroness, and 3 women from our parish receiving the Augustinian Fidelitas Award In May, after several months of construction, our Chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Garden of Peace was dedicated on the first day of our St. Rita Triduum (more information below) In June, Fr. Tony was elected Provincial of the Midwest Province of Augustinians and we prepared for his farewell after 12 years as our pastor, as well as the transition of my becoming the new administrator We ended our fiscal year on June 30, with our Community Weddings, where 7 couples celebrated the Sacrament of Marriage Now, please find below the Annual Financial Report for the Fiscal Year July 1, 2017-June 30, 2018. This report includes all parish, religious education, and Fairfield Academy school income and expenses. I hope that each of you takes some time to look at the numbers as well as the charts that accompany it. 5
In the report, we show actual income and expenses this past fiscal year (July 2017-June 2018) and compare them to the income and expenses for the previous fiscal year (July 2016-June 2017). Overall Picture For the fiscal year 2017-2018, the overall parish ordinary income (combining parish, religious education and Fairfield Academy) was $1,056,000. This increased $58,000 from 2016-2017. However, total ordinary expenses also increased by $65,000 to $829,000. Therefore, combining both ordinary income and expenses, the parish did about $7,000 worse this past fiscal year than the year before. Church Ordinary Income and Expenses The total church (not including religious education or Fairfield Academy) ordinary income this year was $296,000 and total church ordinary expenses were $632,000, therefore leaving us with a deficit of about $325,000. Church ordinary income increased from the year before by $33,000. The main reason for this is the great increase in fundraising and sales from the gift shop in the church. As you know, we have been having many wonderful community events, like our Fiesta Mexicana, St. Rita Festival, and Valentine s Dance. Many thanks once again to our Fiesta Committee for organizing and working these events, and to all of you and your families and friends for attending and supporting us. Church ordinary expenses also increased from the year before by about $41,000, overall. This is mainly because of increases to salaries and benefits (up $35,000 from the year before, largely because of me moving from part-time to full time and receiving health insurance) and an increase to general maintenance and repairs (up $15,000 from the year before). Most other category expenses remained about the same, except for utilities which was less than the year before because of a credit we received on towards our heating/gas account. Religious Education Ordinary Income and Expenses Income for the year was $29,000 while expenses were $62,000. Religious education expenses continue to be almost double the income and this year, while income remained the same, expenses went up by $5,000 from the year before. Fairfield Academy and Other Lease Ordinary Income and Expenses The school lease income and expenses are separated from the rest of the parish to give a more accurate view of the parish finances. The income we received from leasing the school building in 2017-2018 was $698,000, an increase of $24,000. We also received $31,000 for the lease of the cell phone tower located on the school building, Expenses that St. Rita Parish paid relating strictly to the upkeep of the school building (heat/ electricity/repairs/ property insurance/assessment to the Archdiocese) were $134,000 in 2017-2018, up $19,000 from the year before. 6
St. Rita Financial Report Fiscal Year July 1, 2017 June 30, 2018 7
When it comes to income, you can see that 2/3 of all parish income comes from the money we get from Chicago Public Schools for leasing our school building. We rely on this income tremendously, because if it were not for that income, for example, the parish would have had a deficit of $368,000 for the year (combining parish and religious education ordinary income/expenses). If it were not for the Public Schools leasing our school, the parish would be in very serious financial trouble and we could not continue to sustain ourselves. 8
The next largest source of ordinary income was regular Sunday and Holy Day donations, at $181,000, or 18% of all ordinary income. Our average Sunday collection total was $3,338 for the year, a decrease of $8 per week from last year. For those who are able to increase this year, we encourage you to do so and we thank you beforehand for your generosity. Extraordinary Income and Expenses This includes mostly unexpected income and expenses. The extraordinary income for 2017-2018 was $31,000, and the extraordinary expenses were $8,000. This income decreased by $16,000 this past year, but this was because in 2016-2017 we were still collecting money from the To Teach Who Christ Is campaign and this campaign has since ended. Capital/Building Income and Needs Because of the To Teach Who Christ Is campaign, the monthly capital needs collection was suspended in 2014. However, because the Campaign ended in July 2017, we began this monthly collection again. Between that and the maintenance collections, we received $35,000 during 2017-18. These collections are very much needed for all of our capital repair costs. In 2017-2018, we paid a total of $68,000 in capital repairs. I talk about these in detail below. Tunnel and Parking Lot Thank God the extensive repairs to our supply tunnel and parking lot are far behind us. There are still a few ongoing leaks that get repaired as time goes on. During 2017-18, these cost us $1,800. However, this past year, we also needed to repair various pipes for our heating/cooling systems located in this tunnel and those cost $12,000. Last summer, we also had some other repairs done in our parking lot for $5,700. Our Lady of Guadalupe Chapel and Garden of Peace As you all are aware, the largest change and capital expense this past year was the construction of our Lady of Guadalupe Chapel and Garden of Peace on the corner of 63 rd and Fairfield. The project became larger than first imagined, but with the vision of those involved, it became a reality and we had its blessing in May. While the cost may have been $40,000, to have such an incredible and beautiful space dedicated to Our Lady like we now have, we estimate the cost would have been at least $300,000 if it were not for the incredible hard work and dedication of so many volunteers who came and built everything themselves. It was truly a work of love and now we must maintain this space clean and neat. Renew My Church Hopefully you all are aware of the ongoing initiative of the Archdiocese of Chicago called Renew My Church. Every parish in the Archdiocese is now part of what is called a grouping. St. Rita is partnered with St. Clare of Montefalco, St. Gall, St. Simon, and Visitation/St. Basil. We are not sure exactly when, but within the next 1-2 years, our grouping will be activated to begin the discernment process of what the future will look like for these parishes to work together. This can mean anything from sharing resources including staffs, 9
to merging or consolidating 2 or more parishes, among other possibilities. The other pastors from these parishes and I have already met to have initial discussions on how we can work and minister together. We will keep all of you informed as time goes on and how you can be involved in the process. In the meantime, we ask you to keep this initiative in your prayers, both in our grouping, as well as throughout the Archdiocese. As you can see, operating a parish is very expensive. Due to constant increases in necessary (and unexpected) expenses, we will continue looking at how we can increase income and cut expenses. That is why we count on each of you for your financial support. Each week you come to St. Rita and the church is heated, the church is lit, liturgies and sacraments are celebrated, priests and other parish staff minister to and help you. As you can see in the photos from 2017-18 in this report, our parish is a very vibrant and active parish...all of these things could not happen without your financial support. Please take some time to think and pray about how much you are able to give to St. Rita. If you are able to increase what you currently give, please consider doing so. Also please consider using your envelopes each week to give your donation or begin giving electronically. If you remember, a year ago, we made available a way for you to automatically donate to the parish using the online electronic tool called GIVE CENTRAL. Unfortunately, not many of you responded to this way to donate. It is still available, and we encourage you to think about signing up. As an incentive, for anyone who signs up to donate through Give Central today or next Sunday, we will enter you into a raffle to win one of four $25 gift cards for the restaurant Cinco Estrellas. Also, if you do not receive envelopes or are not a registered member of the parish, please register in the parish office, online at www.parishstrita.org, or with the form on the back page of this report. It is very important to be connected to a parish in this way. Thank you to Jenny Meehan, our business manager, for preparing this report, and to the Parish Finance Committee for their time and dedication. THANK YOU to all of you who are so generous in your time, your talent AND your treasure. We exist for you and because of you. Sincerely, Fr. Homero Sanchez, OSA Administrator 10
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SIGN UP TODAY: h ps://www.givecentral.org/loca on/497 To sign up to give your Sunday donations electronically, please go online or fill out the enrollment form to the right and return it to the parish in an envelope. Your information will be safe as only the staff of the parish will see it and will shredded after it is entered. Sunday dona on 12