August,, 2011

Dear friends,

This financial statement is intended to give you a snapshot of St. Mary’s actual revenues and expenses for the fiscal year just completed (7/1/10-6/30/11).

You have been very generous over this past year despite the difficult financial times we all face.  A quick glance at the figures shows that we closed with $6,557.38 more income than expenses.  This is largely due to the fact that we spent less than we had planned on the rectory. We had anticipated building a new front porch at the rectory with a wheelchair accessible ramp which was not built.

Over all we did very well this year financially. As you know, we began the year by purchasing a new (used) pickup for the parish. We also did a lot of work to the church building. We put in new doors and windows and insulated the east and west walls and sanctuary area. The result was that we used 1,000 fewer gallons in 2010-2011 than we did in the 2009-2010 fiscal year.  The even better news is that we did these projects without any need to dip into our savings. First, we received a very large gift from a generous parishioner earmarked for our building projects. We also received generous bequests from estates of deceased friends of St. Mary’s, may God grant them peace.  Second, your generosity to the capital campaign continues to help immensely.  And third, your weekly offerings and prayers keep our church and its programs viable, thank you.

    All of you who have ever owned a home know that expenses come in basically three varieties: those over which you have no control, those that you have control over, and the unexpected.  The price of heating oil is example of the first kind.  Last year we locked in at $2.48 per gallon. We felt this was expensive at the time; some 40 cent above the previous year.  We have not contracted yet this year (and I am not sure if we will) due to the volatility of the oil market. The finance commission and I are keeping a close eye on the price of oil. Let us pray that the price goes down soon. Our three tanks at church are empty at the present time patently waiting for the price to come down.

    I propose that we continue the good work we have begun at securing our building for the next generation. As a parish we need to ponder and respond to the question, “In what condition do we want to pass the building on to our children?”   Energy conservation was not an issue back in 1960 but it is a vital one today.

The next phase of our conservation efforts will be the insulation of the south wall (the glass wall facing Military St.). This presents a greater challenge than the other walls of the building because we want to keep the esthetic value of the wall intact as much as possible and yet increase our R-value. The finance commission is looking at several possibilities. We hope to have this completed by the coldest months ahead. Again, we anticipate having enough money from gifts, bequests and the capital campaign to cover this phase.

But in the meantime, I ask you to begin thinking about the possibilities of insulating our roof. There is no doubt that this will be the biggest and costliest part of our conservation efforts and will require your financial assistance. I will be reconvening the original ad-hoc committee formed 2 years ago to look at our roof and to present the parish with possibilities and recommendations for a new insulated roof. Please continue to support our fuel collection each week by using the blue envelops in the pews. Please be generous in giving to our monthly capital improvement fund. Also, please consider your weekly offertory as a sacrifice and an investment in St. Mary.

  There is a saying, “It doesn’t cost anything to go to Church, but it does cost to have a Church to go to.”

Many thanks for your continued generosity in supporting our parish and its needs.  Let us pray for our parish and for one another.

Yours in Christ,

Father David Raymond

Administrator, St. Mary of the Visitation

Parish Finance Committee (532-0554/9496)

Roger Dyer, Edward McGillicuddy, Shirley Reardon,  John Skehan, Robert Ward, Esq., Mark Stile, Francis Fitzpatrick