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Thank you to all for coming to our first annual meeting. We are trying a new approach to communicate information about our parish. Let s start with an opening prayer. 3
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As we look back upon the year, we remember many important activities of our parish. Individually, each item may have taken a large or small amount of time, talent and treasure to complete. Collectively these activities consumed a large amount. Although this list is incomplete, it represents that activities that occur regularly throughout our church and school. This past spring, our Racino themed gala, had a net proceeds of $16,758. This money is earmarked for tech upgrades such as the Wi-Fi campus wiring upgrades and security cameras. 5
We are blessed as a parish to have Jeff Cavins, a nationally known author and speaker onsite for an adult education series. We are also blessed to have parishioners such as Kari Schuster step forward to share her talent and teach many parishioners about the intricacies of assisting aging adults through the transitions in their life. We are excited to announce that our major capital improvements were completed with no added debt to the church. 6
The parish updated the census of households for the first time in more than 20 years. The household number of 1,993 is down significantly from the pre-census number of 2,650. Three attempts were made to contact inactive parish families. If we did not hear back, the household status has been inactivated. Our parish incurs costs for each parishioner and we are looking to be good stewards of the funds entrusted to us. This census aided the parish in finding people that were hospitalized, moved to nursing homes, families that have moved, and other life changes. We continue to hear from parish families and update and even reactivate the parishioner s status. Our Mass attendance numbers were taken in October 2011 for the first time as a baseline. Since then we have counted our attendance at Masses in March 2012, June 2012 and October 2012. This initiative began with the parish pastoral council s request to define a baseline attendance number. Even with the addition of 118 new families during this timeframe, we have not seen any significant rise in the number of persons regularly attending Mass. The breakdown of the 20 full time equivalent parish employees is: Parish Office: 5 Full-time 2 Part-time Liturgy/Music: 2 Full-time 1 Part-time RE Department: 3 Full Time 6 Part-time Maintenance personnel: 2 Full-time 7 Part-time Our parish is also blessed to have two (2) deacons on a part time basis who have outside full time jobs. Our parish does not pay salaries to our deacons. 7
Our parish is also a legal entity. As such, we have a corporate structure. The board of directors for our parish includes our archbishop, Vicar General, Pastor and two (2) parishioners. Dale Happe has been a Board of Directors Trustee since July 19, 1989. Craig Schoenecker has been a Board of Directors Trustee since November 15, 1995. They were last appointed as trustees on April 1, 2011. They are both up for reappointment on April 1, 2013. The terms are for 2 years. 8
Our parish staff is relatively small when compared to other parishes within the diocese that are comparable size. For example: Our parish has 12 FT and 16 PT employees. Mary, Mother of the Church, Burnsville MN has 10 FT and 13 PT staff, and 3 PT openings. St. Michael s Catholic Church, Prior Lake MN which also has a school has 10 FT and 6PT staff for the parish only. All Saints Catholic Church, Lakeville MN which also has a school has 13 FT and 7 PT staff for the parish only. Risen Savior Catholic Church, Burnsville MN has 15 FT, 7 PT and 7 musicians. 9
Within each of the listed, leadership groups of the parish, committees and subcommittees exist. They may be a long-term or short-term committee. For example: PCC has the 55+ group, the cemetery committee, and funeral luncheon group, the BeFrienders and many more. REAC has youth ministry, adult education, RCIA, early childhood faith formation and others. SAC has home and school association, school marketing, policy, finance and many others. Stewardship has blood donors, annual gala, ministry fair and many more. Worship commission has committees for every aspect of our liturgical life, Eucharistic ministers, lectors, ushers, many music groups, altar decorations, etc. 10
2011-12 Choir / Instrumentals Breakdown Adult Choir 35 Ensemble Singers 12 Children's Choir 15 Youth/Young Adult Choir 10 Instrumentalists 10 Bell Choir 11 Additionally, approximately 20 school children sing at each weekly school Mass during the school year. 11
The increasing trends in RCIA, weddings and marriage validations are exciting to see within our parish. A vibrant Catholic community must include adult sacraments as a way to continue to share our faith with our youth. In addition to the marriages that occur within our parish, the Prepare Couple Mentors work with our parishioners getting married in other parishes; usually the church in which they grew up. The increase in funerals, although a sorrowful time for families, indicates that the increase in senior housing in our area has increased families that trust our parish to handle their spiritual needs. 12
Many preschool offerings exist: 2 days / week 3 days / week 5 days / week All day 5 days / week This past year saw the preparation for our all day program which began in September 2012. We currently have 18 of the 20 available slots filled. The five (5) teachers included in the pre-school program, includes one (1) music teacher. The breakdown of parishioner/non-parishioner and Catholic/non-Catholic students for the years prior to 2011-12 are unavailable. The total financial aid provided allows our preschool to be affordable for families, based on need. 13
The difference between the education cost and tuition is covered by a parish subsidy. Although some parish families pay the full education cost, most families pay the tuition amount. Additionally, financial aid is available to parish families based on need to help keep our school affordable to them. 14
REACH is Religious Education at Catholic Home and is in addition to the other RE participant numbers. There were 20 REACH participants in 2009-10, 27 in 2010-11 and 17 in 2011-12. No formal program exists after Grade 10 with confirmation occurring, however in 2009-10 we had 11 post-confirmation students involved in the program. The difference between the education cost and tuition per student is covered by a parish subsidy. Although some parish families pay the full education cost, most families pay the tuition amount. Additionally, financial aid is available to parish families based on need to help keep our school affordable to them. Finally, tuition remission is available for families who provide volunteers to the RE program. Remission provides a 50% reduction in tuition for families of catechists and 25% for non-catechist volunteers. 15
WEE Faith is a preschool religious education program. Sunday school is offered at the 9:00 a.m. Sunday Mass, during the school year for children in Kindergarten through Second (2 nd ) grade. Two (2) summer programs are offered; Vacation Bible School and Son Days. These programs are held at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church. Additionally a Vacation Bible School is held at our sister parish, Immaculate Heart of Mary in Houston, Mississippi. 16
Adult CCD (Catholicism, Coffee and Dessert) presentations are offered four times a year with an average of 25 participants per session. However, depending on the topic, attendance has ranged upwards to as many as 60 to 80 participants with notable growth in attendance over the past three years. 17
Middle School Youth Ministry is, this year, scheduled regularly and we'll have numbers to track starting this year. The mission trips have been to New Orleans (2009-10), Minneapolis/St. Paul (2010-11) and Los Angeles (2011-12). 18
The Stewardship committee organizes the blood drives twice per year. Our number of donors has been rising steadily over the last 2 years. The drives are also published locally for our community neighbors to join in the effort to save lives. The efforts for the August 2012 Paint-a-thon occurred during this fiscal year. Three parishioner families were accepted into the program. Two homes were painted by more than 60 volunteers. Our third parishioner home was painted by another organization in the area. St. John s works with Loaves and Fishes At St. Mark s in Shakopee. Our parish volunteers typically prepare and serve 150 meals per month, on the 4 th Monday of the month. The apple giving trees for school supplies and Christmas gifts support families in need with their children school supplies. Families are from our parish, our sister parish (Immaculate Heart of Mary in Houston, MS) and Blessed Trinity Catholic School in Richfield, MN, and St. Joseph s Home for Children in Minneapolis, MN. Over 350 children and 50 adults were served through this program last year. The food shelf donations are alternately dropped off at Scott County, Dakota County locations. 19
The annual garage sale benefits many areas within the parish. In 2011 the proceeds were dedicated to increasing technology within parish campus and the 2012 proceeds are earmarked for new atrium furniture. Additionally, the items that did not sell at the garage sale are packaged together and donated to Bridging, CHAPS, Prince of Peace Church, Salvation Army, Apogee and Birthright of St. Paul. The school toy drive has collected enough toys to fill a pickup truck bed, back seat and passenger seat for the last several years. The toys go to Risen Christ in south Minneapolis. The school food drive during the Thanksgiving season collected 2159 pounds in 2010 and 2015 pounds in 2011. The food is donated to the Scott County CAP agency. SouperBowl for Caring is a cooperative effort of St. John's Religious Education & St. John the Baptist Catholic School. Most of the items donated are cans of soup. 2009-2010: $273 to CAP Agency; 311 pounds to CAP Agency, Shakopee 2010-2011: $325 to Catholic Relief Services' Haiti Relief; 315 pounds to Mobile Food Shelf, Savage 2011-2012: $450 to Jack Jablonski Fund; 469 pounds of food to Mobile Food Shelf, Savage Several parish groups organize times to go to support Feed My Starving Children and package the meals. The parish/school staff, youth volunteers, 55+ group and other host such service projects. The Lenten tithe details are: Catholic Cemeteries = $350 Alpha Women s Center = $500 Blessed Trinity = $5,000 Bridging = $2,500 Catholic Charities = $2,500 Common Bond = $1,000 Pregnancy Choices = $500 Sister Parish = $1,000 Annually the parish donates the cost of food and a stipend for Loaves and Fishes. 20
Monthly events included atrium parties at Christmas and Valentine s, June picnic, July boat trip, and other outings such as a Twins game, trip to Duluth, attending a play at the Burnsville High School, and volunteering at Feed My Starving Children. First Wednesday of the month after-mass gatherings in the atrium included Senior Life Seminars and other informational topics for seniors, travelogues, Minnesota Historical Society performance, and a video about the Guadalupe Shrine in La Crosse. 21
The flower and candy sales are held each year after Masses. This past year, $1600 was raised and the proceeds benefit Pregnancy Choices, ProLifeAcross America, The Life Fund, Pro Life Action Ministries. October is nationally Respect Life month. During the month of October we collect clothing, diapers and formula which we donate to Mary's Place (Sharing and Caring Hands) and Pregnancy Choices. Our baby bottle campaign raised money for Alpha Pregnancy Center. A bus trip was held on January 22, 2012 for the MCCL 39 th annual Prayer Rally in St. Paul. 30 people attended the rally from St. John the Baptist Catholic Church. In May, a Mother s Day Tea was held with Mary Ann Kuharskias the speaker and more than 100 people in attendance. For the Mass of Hope & Remembrance,as people entered the church, they are invited to take a rose provided by our Respect Life Committee. After the homily and during the preparation of the gifts, rather than having individuals bring forward bread and wine, those present were invited to bring forward their rose and put it in one of two vases as a way of commending their child to God. The Respect Life Committee also offers hospitality after the Mass. At Christmas, our project, Gifts of Love, sponsors 4 seniors atebenezernursing Home and we buy gifts for them. 22
We have been connected to Immaculate Heart of Mary in Houston, Mississippi for 9 years. We have been blessed through our parishioner volunteers to put on their parish vacation bible school for many years. This past year was again successful with many people assisting us in this effort. The 16+ hour drive is only the first and last hurdle of this activity. Many parishioners of the Mississippi church speak mainly Spanish. The water play day always seems to be a favorite activity for everyone during this typically hot week in July. We had 132 youth in the program from IHM, and 14 young people from IHM assisting us with the facilitation during the week. 13 adults chaperoned 28 youth from St. John the Baptist Catholic Church on this trip. 23
Our bookstore is a small portion of the footprint of our parish buildings. It is intended to provide a valuable service to our parishioners. The inventory available includes books, gifts, seasonal items, 1 st Communion and Confirmation items, religious cards and materials to support parish programs such as Jeff Cavins Bible Study and Year of Faith materials. Our bookstore is an economical and convenient service. The revenue of $14,238 is significant in such a small physical store area. It is also competitively priced, as the revenues less expenses indicate. We have 43 monthly volunteers plus 16 substitute volunteers. The bookstore is typically open for 6 hours each week, and 25 hours per week are required to manage the bookstore. These hours are volunteered by our parishioner, Patty Nielsen. 24
The BeFrienders group has been trained to visit with members of our parish who are suffering physically, mentally or spiritually. These visits are often one-on-one. They bring communion to people, provide prayer shawls that have been hand knit or crocheted by parishioners, talk with youth that are hurting in some way, and provide company to many who are unable to leave their surroundings. Our BeFrienders are the link to St. John the Baptist Catholic Church and members who may not be able to currently attend Mass regularly. This group relies heavily on family, friends or the individual themselves to contact the church. Due to many privacy laws, it is more difficult to know when a parishioner is ill or suffering. We need all parish members to help us by informing the office of someone in need. Do you realize that the 88 visits each week adds up to 4576 visits per year! 25
Our annual report is posted as a PDF file on our facebookpage. Please look for the report on Facebookand Like Us as well. To date, we have 289 Likes http://www.facebook.com/stjohns.church.savage Email bursts are sent based on specific requested criteria; parish news, school news, preschool news, RE, adult faith, youth ministry, etc. Our email bursts have saved significant costs for our parish. Previously, one printing and mailing of the CrossRoadsnewsletter cost the parish approximately $1,500. Our email delivery of that same information eliminates the printing and mailing costs. Please remember to open the emails and read them, as this delivery method allows the parish to put that money back into mission oriented objectives. Our recent email open rates for email groups is: Parish bulletin emails 30-32% School newsletter emails 44-51% RE newsletter emails 37-39% An email open rate is calculated by the service we use. This rate identifies email recipients who receive and open the email. Those who receive and delete without opening the email are not counted in the percentage. Our parish website houses our registration and simple giving pages http://stjohns-savage.org/ Online registrations for the year were 68 families or 58% of the total new registrations of 118 The growth in our Simple Giving process has been very positive. At the end of our 2009-10 year we had 255 enrolled. That grew to 376 at the end of our 2010-11 year and 400 at the end of our 2011-12 year. Simple giving is currently used by 452 people which is 7% of all parishioners and approximately 23% of the total parish households. 26
Our operational revenue decreased approximately $4,000 year over year. Our main revenue generator, the weekend collection decreased approximately $29,000. As you would expect, largest revenue generators include the Sunday contributions and school tuition making up 80% of total revenue. The balance of revenue is split between several categories primarily school related and fundraising. 27
Even with the drop in income, we were able to increase our expenditures in Parish Ministry which is a key part of continuing to grow a strong parish community. Maintaining some level of operating income allows us to pay for capital expenditures that are not reflected on the income statement (such as the school roof and air exchanger mentioned earlier in the presentation) 28
Our asset base remains relatively flat year over year. Our largest asset is our building and property at $5.3M. With our cash reserve, we are able to continue replacing equipment and complete scheduled building improvements without additional financing. 29
Our total debt (both current and long term portion ) is $908k. We have a nice success story relative to our loan we refinanced the loan during 2012 resulting in a total savings over the course of the loan of $67k. The new loan has an interest rate of 4% We reduced the monthly payments by $382/month for a savings of $14K (over the life of the loan) The loan is expected to mature 2 months earlier for additional savings of $53k (over the life of the loan) The loan is expected to mature in approximately 3 years -August 2015 30
For every hour spent as a volunteer in our parish by the collective group of regular Mass attendees, we accomplish the work hours of one full-time employee. We believe that growing the number of parishioners who regularly attend Mass will have many positive impacts: A thriving, vibrant church community. A greater opportunity to reach more individuals within our community and beyond. An opportunity to share the volunteer energy and efforts across many more people. Our new ministry board, in the parish atrium is a great starting point for information on volunteerism. Many ministries within our parish are represented on the board. Please review them and look for an area that fits within your time and talent interests! 31
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