October 13, 2022

Dear Friends in Christ,

We are grateful to all who have financially supported St. Bernard’s Parish during this past year. The financial sacrifices you made have allowed us to continue to minister to the spiritual needs of our community in an effort to lead people to an encounter with Christ that lasts forever.

This encounter occurs through every aspect of parish life, and is sustained through the graces of the Holy Spirit and through the financial support of our parish families. Your generous contributions to the Sunday Offertory are what allow us maintain our day-to-day operations. As part of our commitment to financial transparency, we are sharing with you the financial status of our parish for Fiscal Year 2021-2022 (see below).

This year we have worked hard at reducing expenses where we can. The estimated operating BUDGET for our parish during this 2022-23 fiscal year is $2.4 million dollars. We are a large parish and while we are very prudent with our spending, just like in your own household, the expenses add up.

In looking to the future for this fiscal year, and looking at our current Sunday Offertory trend, we are anticipating a shortfall of approximately $56,000.

As beloved members of St. Bernard’s church, your participation through almsgiving is so important as we continue to serve our parish families.

Proverbs Chapter 3, verse 9 says, “Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your harvest, and your presses shall overflow with wine”.

As stewards of God's gracious gifts, we are called to share our treasure with others. We are reaching out today, and asking if you are giving your best back to God, who gave His best to you? Now is time for all of us to come together as one family in faith and reflect on the financial sacrifice each of us can make in supporting our parish.

The weekend of November 6th, we will be holding our annual Offertory Renewal. This renewal helps us determine if our parish’s budgetary needs will be met through your financial commitment for the upcoming year. It is a time to reflect on whether your current weekly giving is enough, too much, or has the ability of being increased.

Our giving to the offertory should be planned and intentional giving that comes from the heart, and not from what is left over. Holy Scripture teaches us that we should offer 10% of the gifts God has given to us and share them with others. Please carefully consider the gifts that God has given you and contribute part of them to help with the work of the parish.

We appreciate your prayerful and financial support of our parish!


Yours in Christ,
Rev. Fr. David Dutra
Pastor

En Cristo,
Rev. Fr. David Dutra
Párroco

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