Happy Easter!
Thank you so much for your generosity so far in our push for the 5-4-1 model of stewardship here at St. John the Evangelist Parish!
I want to give you an update on the status of the stewardship program as we head into May.
Of our goal of 450 pledge cards turned in, we currently sit at 209, a little less than half of what we were hoping for. Beginning next week, I will be making individual follow-up calls to help folks with their 5-4-1 pledge cards. If you have forgotten to turn yours in, please do so by next weekend! The 5-4-1 stewardship model helps our parish determine its budget for the year with a sustainable model of giving. Without this model, our offertory donations can vary widely from week to week and month to month, making it very difficult to plan financially as a parish. This model of sustainable giving empowers the parish to offer programs, events, and ministries that further enrich our Catholic community. If you are not currently enrolled in the 5-4-1 model of stewardship or recurring giving through our online portal, I would encourage you to do so. It helps our parish tremendously. Many of you are already giving to the parish in a sustainable way through our online portal, which is great! We as a parish would still like you to formalize that pledge by using the 5-4-1 pledge card so that we know we can count on your generosity going forward. If you need help, please contact me and I’d be glad to assist you.
You might be saying to yourself, “Why are we making such an urgent push for the 5-4-1 pledge cards to be turned in so much sooner than they have been in previous years?” Well, I will tell you that the diocese has moved up the date of our final budget to be turned in by a whole month! In order to meet that deadline, we as a parish would like to know what our financial situation looks like in order to accurately set our budget for the upcoming fiscal year before it needs to be turned into the diocese.
I would like to thank you, our generous parishioners, as well for your giving to the Diocesan Services Appeal, or DSA campaign. Our parish has 295 pledges turned in and we are rapidly approaching meeting our DSA goal for the year. Thank you and great job everyone! Our parish has pledged $112,313.47 toward this year’s goal of $145,813.00. We still need to pledge $33,499.53 to get us over the finish line. Let us try and exceed our DSA goal for the year!
In summary, I want to thank you for your generosity towards the parish and our Catholic mission here at St. John the Evangelist. I want to encourage you if you have not already turned in your 5-4-1 pledge card as well as your DSA pledge for a sustainable stewardship model of the parish’s finances.
Bill
Please see the list of The Stewards of St. John Parish on pages 6 & 7 of this weekend’s bulletin.