HOM Christ the King 2018 B 34 th Sunday Nov 25 First I will address the State of Our Parish and then close with a very brief homily based on our Scripture readings and our Liturgical celebration of Christ the King of the Universe. Going back three and a half years to June 30, 2015, we were putting together the revised plan for our Buildings & Grounds Upgrade Project that included: 1) reconfiguration of the former convent to accommodate Faith Formation classes and Preschool, 2) demolition of the School and Boiler Building, 3) construction of a stand-alone Social Hall, 4) re-surfacing the parking lot, and 5) upgrading the a) outdoor lighting, b) signage, and c) landscaping. This plan was presented to Bishop Malesic in September of that year. The year before, Bishop Brandt, in response to our original plan, had requested one that was less expensive and sufficient only for basic parish needs. St. Florian s Annual Financial Report at that time showed that our ordinary expenses of $380,000 for FY 2014-2015 were covered by ordinary income of $385,000, and our actual extraordinary expenses of $61,000 were covered by our extraordinary fundraising income of $63,000. Also, we had $65,000 in parish checking and $375,000 in parish savings for a total of $440,000 on hand. Plus, we had just received notice of a pending bequest from Fr. Jerome Weiksner that would eventually net us $225,000 after assessment. Our financial footing was sound. To cover the projected $1,080,000 cost of the revised plan for our Buildings & Grounds Upgrade Project -- while keeping $100,000 on hand in savings and a checking account balance of $50,000 -- would require us to conduct a capital campaign to raise $650.000, that would include the base consultant cost of $33,000 and our 2016 Diocesan Lenten Appeal Target of $28,500. Although our estimated Project cost included $50,000 for unanticipated expenses, the cost overruns were much higher for many reasons, for example: 1) the convent s 100-year roof which was not included for replacement was found to have been leaking throughout (because the wrong kind of nails were used for installation), and so had to be replaced along with the damaged ceiling inside; 2) extensive termite damage to the inner structure of the back wall was also discovered and so new framing with a new interior wall had to be constructed; 3) sewerage system costs, including permits, exceeded our estimates; 4) the ground on which the Social Hall was to be built was found to be unstable and had to be replaced with a deep gravel base and drainage system; and 5) instead of just re-surfacing the parking lot, it had to be completely milled, its base stabilized in several areas, and then re-constructed. All these contingencies plus change orders added some $450,000 to our original cost estimate, bringing the total Project cost to about $1,530,000.
However, while the Project is virtually complete, several main contractor or sub-contractor jobs remain to be finished. The main contractor has to 1) install four metal caps on the roof of the entrance canopy to the Social Hall and 2) to replace one inside lock assembly. Also, in the Spring one of the independent sub-contractors must 1) plant some bushes along the property line behind the Social Hall and 2) install a new flagpole between the Social Hall and Faith Formation Building. The first two of these jobs has already been paid for, the last two will require payment upon completion. Finally, there is a financial issue to be resolved with the main contractor, who is to reimburse St. Florian s for $38,000 we advanced to his subcontractors in order to complete several critical parts of the Social Hall -- namely, flooring, electrical, and air conditioning -- so that it would be usable for the Bishop s parish visit back on June 24 th and our Parish Festival on August 12 th. The main contractor who was unable to pay his subcontractors at that time because of his cash flow problems -- has assured me that St. Florian s will be reimbursed as soon as he gets paid for a major job he did elsewhere. When he receives this payment, he is also to pay an invoice from one of his suppliers for the roofing materials used on our Social Hall, which that suppler has put under a mechanics lien against St. Florian s. I believe that our main contractor is making a good faith effort to resolve these matters, about which our Diocese is also well aware. To his credit, his bid for our Social Hall construction was more than $100,000 below that of the next lowest bidder, and even though the bulk of the job was completed six months later than the contracted date, the quality of the work is generally very good and he has persevered toward fulfilling all his contract obligations, despite many problems. At some point, however, in consultation with the Diocese, it may be necessary and prudent for us to consider some legal action in order to resolve the reimbursement issue. Because of the cost overrun of our Buildings & Grounds Project and a judgment that it would be more cost-effective to wrap up, sooner rather than later, its final phase of parking lot reconstruction, lighting, signage and landscaping, we also sought and were granted a ten-year $300,000 loan from the Diocese. I have previously explained the favorable terms of this loan and how paying it back at about $2,800 a month would require both sustained giving in our Sunday collections at about the same level as the last fiscal year plus at least $35,000 in annual fundraising income. I am concerned that we may fall short of these measures. Our ordinary income from Sunday collections in 2018, through October, is down by almost 3% from 2017 -- more than $7,000. And despite a successful Festival, Spaghetti Dinner, Hoagie Sale, Pancake Breakfast, and the Sale of Parish Cookbooks, we are still about $5,000 short of our annual fundraising goal for this fiscal year. I should also mention that we have no savings left and only about $30,000 in checking on hand.
On behalf of our entire parish faith community, I commend and thank all who have contributed to the financial needs of our parish through faithful Sunday giving especially those who tithe at least 5% to parish and 5% to Charity, Diocese, and Church-at-Large -- and also those who, in addition to regular giving, have worked so hard and so well to re-start and carry out the fundraisers we have had since the new Social Hall has been made ready. I also want to thank all who have prayed for the success of our 3-yr Capital Campaign, and those including a number of non-parishioners -- who made a sacrificial gift or pledge and a goodfaith effort to fulfill it. Our pledge total has just reached $700,000 and while we have taken in $643,000 or 99% of our original $650,000 goal, it would be a big help in paying down our loan if we could actually get to $700,000 in what is taken in as assessment-free Campaign income. Keep in mind that by paying off our loan early -- in less than 10 years -- the amount of the loan itself actually shrinks -- and therefore the total amount we have to pay back shrinks -- because of the interest built into it. The official end of our Campaign is less than six-months away in April, and that s why Jim Schmidt, our Campaign Chairman, has just sent you a letter encouraging the fulfillment of pledges and also inviting additional or new gifts from anyone who might be able to give one, in order to help make up for those who may have died or, for some other reason, are unable to fulfill their pledges. I want to thank Jim for his effective leadership of the Campaign, along with his co-chairs and the other members of that Committee. Despite my concerns about the two income measures I mentioned earlier and the fact that over the last three years our ordinary and extraordinary income have significantly declined I am pleased that our ordinary expenses have declined even more, thanks especially to the keen costcutting efforts of our parish secretary and generous concessions in hours and salary by our faith formation director. I mentioned that three years ago for FY 2014-15 our ordinary operating expenses amounted to $380,000. Our latest annual report for FY 2017-18 shows that these expenses were down from that amount by $48,000 and by almost $80,000 from FY 2015-16, These are cost reductions of 12% and 19% respectively, and this has continued in our current calendar year with a 10% cost reduction so far over last year. UPS may still run the tightest ship in the shipping business, but I am happy to suggest to you that St. Florian s probably runs the most cost-efficient parish in the Diocese and will continue to do so as long as Angela Reese is in the Office and our Finance Council continues to provide oversight and counsel. Before moving on to two other matters more briefly, I would just mention the St. Vincent de Paul Society, which is an incorporated non-profit lay-catholic charitable organization that serves the poor on behalf of the Church. It is legally distinct and separate from the Diocese, and any parish, although it serves in our Diocese with the approval of the Bishop, and at parishes with the
approval of the respective pastor. Its funds are not co-mingled with Church funds. All of your donations in support of its good work that come to the parish are immediately given to our Parish Conference of the Society, which has its income and expenses audited, and files a report to the Greensburg Council of the Society, a summary of which is put in our bulletin. In the case involving the founding former president of the St. Florian Parish Conference of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, of which you are certainly aware, be assured that no parish money was involved and that more than half of the figure reported in the news was not from St. Florian parishioners. When the legal proceedings in this case have run their course, I hope to be able to provide you with a more detailed statement about it. I will now briefly address two other aspects of the state of our parish. The first concerns the decline in the number of people who attend our Sunday Masses and the number of people registered here. When I was assigned to St. Florian s in June, 2013, the October Count for that year showed that, on average, 463 people attended our three weekend Masses for Sunday. Our 2018 Count showed that number to be 335, a decline of 128 or almost 28%. Our Statistical Report for 2013 showed 945 individuals registered here in 476 households. The 2018 Report showed 892 individuals in 464 households. That s a loss of 12 households with 53 individuals a percentage decline of 2.5% and 5.6% respectively. Also, the number of people attending Mass as a percent of registered individuals went from 49% in 2013 to 37.5% in 2018. While that s still well above the Diocesan average of 28% and far above the national average of 23%, the decline is still a concern. Most of this is due to the number of deaths far outpacing the number of births and baptisms and adult conversions. The demographics of our area also contribute to this, in as much as the population of Mt. Pleasant Township where we are located has also declined slightly. As you know, in consultation with our Pastoral Council, the matter of registered parishioners and Mass attendance was addressed in what I refer to as our Parish Campaign to reach out to lapsed Catholics inviting them to return to Mass and to un-churched persons inviting them to consider becoming Catholic. At the beginning of Lent this year, I explained to you the Guidelines we had established for this that are found on the laminated half-sheets in your missalettes and on the bulletin tables in the back of church. They included praying daily for one person you know in either category for six months, offering a small weekly sacrifice for that person, and including that person by name in your Eucharistic Self-Offerings. August 12, the day of our Parish Festival, marked the end of the six months of the Spiritual Preparation Phase of this Campaign and also the beginning of the Outreach Phase during which the prayers, sacrifices, and Eucharistic Self-Offerings are to continue and now the Holy Spirit is
to be invoked to provide the opportunity, impulse, and the right words to reach out to the intended person. This Outreach Phase will continue until the end of 2018, and a new round will begin with the start of Lent, 2019. I want to share with you a little about my experience with reaching out to some of the 12, and then 13, 14, 15, 16, and now 17 people I to whom I intend to reach out. So far, I have reached out to only four, but the signs of God s grace at work are clearly evident. In order to get started, I had to pray explicitly for an outreach opportunity and impulse, and when I felt moved, I acted on it immediately. I paid a cold call to one man at his office, and miraculously, he was available to speak with me for about a half an hour. To my surprise and joy, he was also already attending Mass and was actually quite on fire with the spirit of evangelization. Another person I visited with advance notice came to Mass one time after that and did not take Holy Communion and did not return to Mass because of various problems about which I was aware. So I offered confession and then Holy Communion once a month by way of a home visits, but so far there s been no acceptance of this. Nevertheless, I plan to reach out again because I sense some openness to returning to the sacraments. There was also a gentleman to whom I paid a surprise visit at his home praying that he would not throw me out. He actually let me in, and although he was not able to attend Mass, he let me know that he would not attend Mass even if he could. Nevertheless, the Lord provided a way for me to make future pastoral visits to his home to another family member, and I am hopeful that during the course of these this man s heart will be softened until he opens it to the Lord in Confession, the Anointing of the Sick, and Holy Communion. Regarding the fourth person to whom I reached out, I called first to schedule a day and time. He graciously received me and we talked for at least a half hour before I had to leave for another appointment. I offered the sacraments but he was not ready, so I offered to stop back, and he implied that I might see him in church before then. From what I experienced on all four outreaches, I am encouraged, even excited, and I am looking forward to following through on reaching out to the remaining thirteen people on my list. I would remind and ask all of you, that if you have not yet reached out to the one person for whom you have been praying, to please take heart and do so before the end of the year. Pray to the Holy Spirit for the opportunity, impulse and right words, and then just do it. Whether anyone comes back to Mass or to the sacraments or takes steps to become a Catholic HERE is not nearly as important as the good effects our outreach may have in helping a person get to heaven somehow, someway. That s really what s it s all about. And maybe it s really
ourselves we will be helping the most by reaching out to someone else. In any case, we certainly should want eternal life for ourselves and others, especially those we hold dear, above all else. This brings me to the third and last State of the Parish item before closing with a micro-homily. We need volunteers, both for parish ministries and fundraising events. Those we have are wonderful and faithful, but they are overworked, and some are getting up in years, and we need the next generation to step up to help them and eventually replace them. In the pew are copies of our Parish Registration and Multi-Purpose Form and a pencil. You can use this form to select something for which to volunteer. Just check that item or those items on the Form and put it in the collection basket. You will be contacted within a week. Forms are also found in the back of church on the table by our Campaign Thermometer and in the wall pockets by the church exits. Keep in mind that all volunteers must obtain Child Protection Clearances. We have about 120 parishioners who have their clearances. I know that obtaining this is a sacrifice in and of itself, but by doing so, you are helping not only our parish, but you are also becoming an advocate for Child Protection against sexual abuse in non-church institutions and settings as well where 99.8% of such abuse occurs. At last I have arrived at the finish a super brief homily for the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King of the Universe, what I call THE HAPPY EVER AFTER ENDING. This is what our Church and our parish and each of us individually as people of faith are about helping people to attain a happy ever after finish to their lives to help all those we hold dear to know Jesus and to live in Holy Communion with Him all their days and so to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven the new heavens and the new earth beyond time with Him -- to share His divine glory forever along with all the Blessed. Today s Old Testament prophetic vision from the Book of Daniel portrays Jesus second coming in glory when He will make all things new for those who love Him and remain faithful to Him, especially in the sacrament of His Body and Blood. Our second reading from the Book of Revelation refers to Jesus as the firstborn of the dead, the beginning and the end of all things, and ruler of all creation. United to Him, especially in Holy Communion, we will be raised with Him to the glory of the Fathers House wherein will be the new heavens and the new earth. In the Gospel reading, Jesus acknowledges His Kingship to Pilate and tells him that His Kingdom is not of this world, but is beyond the tomb and grave and time and that those who seek to live in the truth hear the truth in His words and seek to do the Father s will in oneness with Him.
Our response to this is contained in the final words of the Nicene Creed and Apostles Creed: I LOOK FORWARD TO THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD AND THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME.I BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY AND LIFE EVERLASTING. St. Thomas Aquinas spoke of this everlasting life as man being united with God, whereby all Man s longings are fulfilled in a way that exceeds all other pleasures, with Man praising God ceaselessly for this, surrounded by a superabundance of all that is delightful, and rejoicing in the joy of every other person who is so united to God, which adds to the happiness of all. Our ultimate response to this promise of Jesus is to be found in the offering of ourselves to Him in Holy Communion in praise and thanksgiving and loving obedience. So brothers and sisters, if you want this HAPPY EVER AFTER ENDING for yourselves,your family and friends, and indeed, for all, I invite you to join me in a Eucharistic self-offering for this intention. Just pray these words silently and sincerely at Holy Communion. I AM ALL YOURS O MOST LOVING JESUS THROUGH MARY YOUR MOTHER.