Dear parishioners,
I would like to start with a reminder that we will be having our brunch after the 8:30 Mass next weekend. This will be a chance for us to gather and to share all of our memories of happenings throughout the years at the Antwerp campus. I will be there as well; many thanks to the priest who will be covering the 10:30 Mass for me.
The following is a summary of the most recent finance council meeting from a few weeks ago. As our diocesan fiscal year begins on July 1, this meeting covered where the parish was as of August 31.
First, our annual Beer and Wine Tasting event produced a net profit of $8,225. Thank you to the many volunteers who worked hard to make this year’s event another success. As I have mentioned in previous bulletin articles and as was advertised for the event, the profit from this event will go toward the maintenance of our two cemeteries. St. John’s Cemetery has a handful of monuments that need repairs, a tree that needs to be cut down, and the driveway in the new section needs to be stoned. If possible, I am hoping to purchase software to streamline the administration of both cemeteries; however, we are still doing research into the details of what this would entail. We received a $2,400 grant from the State of Ohio restricted for cemetery maintenance, which we used to repair a couple headstones in St. John’s. Other headstones are still in need of repairs. On a related note, I would like to thank the many volunteers who take care of everything that needs done at Immaculate Conception Cemetery. It was noted at our finance council meeting that our parish does not incur any maintenance expenses at I. C. Cemetery thanks to the dedication and generous work of our parishioners.
As you have seen the weekly updates in the bulletin regarding our Sunday collections, offertory income has remained above budget so far. Thank you!
We received a $5,000 grant from the Bayer Company, which was restricted for use at schools. We used this money to replace the landscaping at the front of our school building, laying stone at the entrance and around the flag pole.
You might recall that I mentioned in this year’s Annual Report that with the end of the previous fiscal year on June 30, 2022, our parish was experiencing the effects of rising utility costs just as the rest of the nation has been. That resulted in our utility expenses finishing at more than $8,000 over our budgeted amount for the year. This being the case, we budgeted for a 5% rate increase for the present fiscal year. Even having planned for this increase, as of the end of August, we were already $1,900 over budget year-to-date for utilities.
As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact Dianne Jones or myself at the parish office.
Blessings,
Fr. Ammanniti
