1 St. Joseph Catholic Church Richardson, Texas 2016 Parish Survey Results SURVEY COMMENTS Category 5: Stewardship 1. Wouldn't hurt to specifically ask all parishioners to contribute to weekly collection 2. Would like to see a more transparency of finances - currently too high level of a statement provided 3. Have seen huge debt weekly - I feel for you 4. Too much emphasis on finances 5. Felt the expenses for monthly Texas Catholic newspapers was very high. However I'm not knowledgeable about the benefits or who reads it. 6. I do what I can. I am physically limited. 7. Would like to see statistics on how many families give certain amounts to church. Example x give over $1000; x give $750-1000/month; x give $500-750/month, x give $0, etc. 8. Present financial for church and school separately 9. Didn't need to spend money on new pews should have put it towards our debt. If you ask for money for bills don't spend it on something unnecessary and lower quality than what we already had. 10. We need to pay off the debt and fix the building; we do not need to keep buying new things. 11. It bothers me that we do so little outreach. Except for the work of the St. Vincent de Paul Society very little is done. Taking care of those in need is a big part of spiritual growth and area where we need to improve. Our family has several monthly ongoing pledges outside the parish because this is so important to us too much debt 12. Strong efforts should be made to unify the school and church 13. Much improvement has occurred with new pastor 14. Should reduce the amount of financial assessment given to diocese and use the funds to maintain the church 15. We need a good financial drive, gas and utilities should be watched more carefully, turn off light after daily Mass 16. Does the Diocese influence St. Joseph's financial decisions? 17. New to faith and parish so do not know how well our stewardship is to the community.
2 18. As an older couple on a fixed income, unfortunately we cannot give more because our checks do not increase. We have been and will be committed to St. Joseph's for a long period of time and will continue to support in any way we can. We feel as if we belong here. 19. Glad the church has become more transparent on our financial situation. 20. I give every week but do not like to be told I must give 10% to be a good Catholic. 21. My age and health are a barrier to being a better steward. 22. Choir should have a song book instead of making weekly copies to be more cost effective. 23. On 5-6 occasions, I have called or visited the parish office to offer to volunteer in four separate ministries, but nobody I talked to seemed to want my help at first. One staff member made dismissive comments about my ability to help, and others failed to contact me back. However, since then, I've been able to find ways to volunteer. Youth Ministry seems to have excellent volunteer coordination! 24. I see a great improvement since Fr. Jason is here together with Fr. Juan Carlos and Fr. Dankasa 25. I am not sure the church is a good steward of the community resources. No consistency in pastorship. 26. I think the parish should charge more fees for the use of facilities to keep our budget on track. 27. Church provides very good visibility into finances, but I am very disappointed about cost and spending. I would like to see the church vocally ask parishioners to step up and volunteer their skills and talent and provide ways to apply them to help the church and community. 28. Re: parish using resources: I don't really know but since we are in financial straits I guess we could better direct our funds. 29. They try. More effort to do basic maintenance, such as change light bulbs 30. I thought Why Catholic was a good idea but failed to teach about faith. 31. Emphases on % of parishioners who give regularly vs. those not supporting the church. 32. Some ministries are not very inviting as it is hard to become members, or they require paperwork to be submitted. Such as the Eucharistic Minister (EM) ministry. The same people serve week after week. 33. Thanks for financial info and news given weekly in bulletin. 34. Am aware of all efforts made in past to clear debt. 15 years of Sharing Our Joy when it was scheduled for 3 years!! If we are in a financial crisis what is the cause, what services will be lost or curtailed, and since we have known for a period of time, what steps have been taken to correct. 35. New pews??
3 36. Who is the parish council? Is it elected? The financial council? The "laity" is not informed for the most part at SJCC. 37. Concerning the church finances I don't agree with how the church finances are being handled. Why is it always so very cold in the church? 38. Too much talk about money 39. Wasted money on pews and severely impaired acoustics- now too much echo. 40. Too cold in the Mass. Wasting A/C. Why expense for supplies so high? Why a bank loan for $150,000? 41. I don't know enough about it to say for sure, but it seems like the budget might be somewhat bloated. I'm glad that some financial reports have been published, but I don't really know what to make of them. How do the numbers compare to other nearby parishes, for instance? 42. I don't see a lot of visibility in how the parish operates. 43. Such a great and large community, however small percentage participate financially 44. Unfamiliar with allocation of finances 45. Too many money requests 46. I'm not really clear where the money for assessments/charitable contributions go. 47. I question if this parish has the resources to support a school when it has trouble paying bills. 48. Have not taken the time to look at finances when they are put in bulletin / website 1. A Ministry Fair is needed to promote more involvement from all ethnic groups and new parishioners. 2. The $45,000 allocated to the Texas Catholic publication should be temporarily stopped until our financial situation improves. 3. Perennial plants rather than annuals should be used to reduce cost. 49. Need better planning for un-foreseen / emergency financing 50. Organizations do not do enough / encourage others to join them 51. Feel bludgeoned instead of encouraged 52. Heads of ministries should be more welcoming to attract new people to serve 53. School should be independent of church financially 54. Does the total debt owed ever decrease? 55. Would like to see a ministry fair in the courtyard after all Masses 56. 2nd collection possibly needed for repairs? 57. So much $ has gone to school and decorating the church. Not all parishioners can afford the school or are concerned about the school.
4 58. We need more info on money spent on repairs, computer systems, roof, AC etc. 59. I don't have enough information to answer this question knowledgably. 60. Need to increase tithes for many people who don't already help. 61. Start a Parish Gardener's Group to plant annual flowers... (Raise money of take donations for plants) - Perhaps start a co-op vegetable garden with the parish community and include St. Joseph Students. 62. Need to work on non-contributors. 63. The subject of tithing was presented to the parish. Hope it bring more blessings 64. Fr. Cargo gave an excellent homily a few weeks ago! 65. We need better ways to communicate how our talents could benefit our parish. 66. Not aware of this aspect of the church 67. Gifts and talents are offered to the church, but the church refuses to accept them. 68. I pray for father Cargo that he can clear the financial mess left by the past pastors. 69. No survey of talent, no invite to assist or be on call. 70. Extortion 71. Sometimes too much effort. 72. We are in debt! Should stay in budget! 73. We, as a parish seem to waste an inordinate amount of money. Some kind of incentive per group within the parish would perhaps help individuals to try to save money rather than waste it. When funds are low in our family, we have to get creative at ways of cutting costs. Our parish needs to do the same. St Joseph Baltimore Catechism costs $5 each (retail) - that would save a fortune for Faith Formation (one example). 74. School debt needs to be paid off. School needs to be self-supporting. No more large projects until debt free & can pay in full. Please don't borrow any more money. 75. We waste money on items like printing music sheet and then we have needs for flood repairs. We need to look at money and how it helps our faith and not just use it on frivolous items 76. Problems with roof leaking and sound problems. Local competent help is not used to resolve these issues. 77. The large amount of water damage makes it appear we are not being good stewards of our capital investments 78. The church is so diverse in population, yet I do not see the diversity in stewardship opportunities. 79. Enough awareness, but I have not been contacted.
5 80. Why are our obligations higher now than in the past? 81. Work more. 82. We don't understand why the parish didn't alert the parishioners of the dire financial situation earlier. 83. We should be able to provide for maintenance and services from within our parishioners and not have to pay outside services. 84. Parish makes good use of what is given 85. Finances are a mess. I'm ashamed of our financial situation. This should not have happened at such an affluent parish. The Parish Financial Council should be embarrassed, and they should certainly be disbanded. Do you call for volunteers on these councils? Please check out the Diocese of Wichita for a shining example of stewardship from the top. Google "Diocese of Wichita, KS free tuition." I hope I am not sounding too harsh, but has parishioners who have faithfully tithed, we were disgusted to hear how our money is incompetently spent. 86. $200,000 in unspecified expenses! Not enough info to make an informed decision 87. We have a lot of debt and insufficient funds for maintenance 88. The parish creates awareness. I need to change my attitude & be encouraged to contribute. I pray God to help me. 89. I know there are opportunities, but I don't take advantage of them right now. 90. You give good lessons in life 91. I have never been asked for money more times than as much as this past 12 months. Maybe we are spending where we should not 92. Not fully aware of what the parish provides 93. Money not utilized properly 94. Seems like too much of Mass is spent on stewardship, nice to hear the stories, but not so frequently 95. More effort to involve others in volunteer activities, same folks in most ministries 96. Unfortunately, I have aged out of many things. 97. As a Catholic, I know my responsibilities but it is too early for me to talk about this church. 98. Any and all funds going to the school appear to be a waste; the school has become a status symbol instead of a ministry. 99. Need more outreach to encourage everyone to get involved in some way. 100. More effort to get others to contribute to the finances on a consistent basis 101. Encourage more giving and to go online to give; not all give
6 102. Need to talk about finances more 103. Some ministries are hard to become a member of. They seem to be members only clubs 104. Mixed picture of where parish stands financially. 105. How does someone get to know my talents and gifts if they don't know me? Surveys are good if the info is provided what you like to do etc. but if no one calls what good is it. 106. Love our church 107. Opportunities / organizations that involve whole family would be good 108. Appreciates updates on parish finances 109. Would like to see Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace class offered. 110. As a new parishioner I called/visited church office 4-5 times to volunteer and join ministries. Was never contacted. I persisted and got involved after contacting Youth ministry and found them to have excellent volunteer coordination and stewardship! 111. Personal prayers for those who do not contribute