Two Vacant Catholic Churches (in Northhampton, MA )Lose Exempt Status, Hit with New Property Taxes | Northampton Media

 

Fiscal Year 2012 property tax bills being mailed out this week will include almost $40,000 in new taxes to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield for St. John Cantius and St. Mary’s properties, Northampton Media has learned.

the two churches were ordered closed by the Springfield Roman Catholic Diocese’s Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell as part of a consolidation of five parishes; it was decided that the new citywide parish, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, would utilize the Sacred Heart Church on King Street as its main worship house.

Click on the following for more details:  http://northamptonmedia.com/blog/12/27/2011/21137/

St. Paul Lutheran to lower 2012 tuition to hopefully increase enrollment

Click on the photocopy to enlarge.

St. Paul Lutheran’s website:  http://stpaullutheranschool.com/

The Observer’s official story on the St. Bernadette (Rockford) tuition rollback

The following story is taken from:  http://observer.rockforddiocese.org/Archives/2011Archives/January142011/StBernadetterollsbacktuitionprices/tabid/3361/Default.html?link=3361&tabid=3359

St. Bernadette rolls back tuition, urges families to try Catholic school
By Penny Wiegert, Editor

ROCKFORD—News today about the economy usually includes the word “increase.” However, in a bold move to boost enrollment and keep a high quality west-side Catholic School viable, St. Bernadette pastor Father Kenneth Stachyra and school principal Elizabeth Heitkamp are using the words “decrease” and “roll-back.”

Last month principal Heitkamp presented a plan that decreases tuition rates at the school by almost 40 percent. In a letter to parents she said, “I am very excited to announce that St. Bernadette Catholic School is making Catholic Education more affordable for families. We have instituted a tuition roll back that takes our tuition rates back 10 years and reduces our current tuition by up to 40 percent!”

Heitkamp went on in the letter to explain how the school can afford to reduce tuition in such a sluggish economy.

“Our enrollment is decreasing, making it harder for us to continue to offer the necessary services to our students.

“By helping families to be able to afford our tuition, we are helping increase our enrollment. Increasing our enrollment allows us to maintain the quality of education we have given for over 50 years,” she wrote.
In a presentation to the parish and to parents, Heitkamp said adjustments to the budget had been made in the last few years to accommodate the lower enrollments and to maintain a reasonable budget for the parish, but she said, “we needed a new approach.”

Both St. Bernadette parish and school have seen a decrease in parishioners and students in the past ten years. According to Dr. Michael Cieslak, director of the diocesan Office for Planning and Research, contributing to that decrease are the neighborhood demographics within the boundaries of the parish and school.

Cieslak reports that the neighborhood surrounding the parish has changed significantly due in part to the aging population, decreased family size and the severe downturn of the local economy.

The bottom-line, Heitkamp says, is that the school needs more students.

The Parish Finance Council, Father Strachyra, the Catholic Education Office, and even Bishop Thomas G. Doran have all given this tuition reduction plan their blessing and believe it is a creative way to get more students enrolled.

The new tuition structure is as follows:

Parish Families (including west-side parishes without schools)
1 child $1750
2 children $3500
3 or more $5250
Non Parish Families
1 child $2500
2 children $5000
Each additional child $2500

The new tuition rate will take effect for students enrolled for the 2011-12 school year. The new tuition rate is a price guarantee for two years.

“Tuition may increase slightly after that two-year period. But it is not our intent to return to our previous tuition levels,” Heitkamp said.

“Our finance council is trying to adjust to our demographic and our current demographic will not support the current rate. The support from the finance council and our parish is amazing and I am so appreciative,” she said.

Heitkamp has been principal at St. Bernadette for the past seven years and she has tried many creative and aggressive ways to recruit new students including marketing on television, radio and through print advertising. But the issue always comes back to finances she said.

“The Rockford metro area is fortunate to include several Catholic schools and we are thankful for the support of the parents who choose Catholic education and encourage them to continue in their current Catholic school. The object of St. Bernadette’s new tuition plan is not to pull students from their current parish home. The plan is to attract Catholic students from the public schools in and around St. Bernadette who may not have found the school affordable in the past and to help bring back students and families that may have left St. Bernadette for financial reasons,” said Superintendent of Diocesan Catholic Schools, Michael Kagan.

“If people walk the halls and talk to the staff and experience the positive atmosphere, I believe it will convince them to choose Catholic Schools,” Kagan said.

For a complete break-down of tuition, St. Bernadette boundaries and contact information for St. Bernadette school visit www.stbernadetterockford.com

St. James’ FY 2011 Financial Reports

The following financial information was an insert to the bulletin for 10-2-2011.  For your convenience the balance sheet for 6-30-2010 is also supplied.

 

[St.Peter’s, South Beloit] St. Vincent de Paul seeks indoor, permanent food pantry site

What is going on at St. Peter’s, South Beloit?  Why must the Director of Communications for the Diocese give answers for the parish priest?  Who is in charge at St. Peter’s?

 

SOUTH BELOIT — Volunteers with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul are looking for a new building from which to operate their weekly food pantry now that they can no longer use St. Peter Catholic Church’s bingo hall.

The society had operated a food panty out of the bingo hall every Wednesday night since 2001 until parish officials changed the locks one night in April and the Rev. Nicolas Federspiel, the parish priest, told them they could no longer use the hall.
“He wouldn’t let us in there to get our food,” pantry coordinator Ed VanBarriger said. “It was locked away. People started showing up, and we were telling them they had to leave, they couldn’t get any food. It’s a crime.”…

Federspiel and the parish Finance Council decided to start renting out the bingo hall this spring, said Penny Wiegert, director of communications for the Catholic Diocese of Rockford.
“The parish and the school no longer needed to use the mobile building as an extra classroom, so the Rev. Federspiel and some members of the parish Finance Council decided to give them that building to use instead and use the bingo hall for other activities,” she said. “So the food pantry was temporarily closed for about six weeks to move all of the stuff from the bingo hall to the mobile classroom.”

The above Rockford Register Star article is available in its entirety at:  http://www.rrstar.com/top_stories/x149331342/Society-of-St-Vincent-de-Paul-seeks-indoor-permanent-food-pantry-site

For other stories on St. Peter’s and the state of affairs there go to: http://boonecountycatholics.blogspot.com/2011/09/aftermath-of-south-beloits-failed.html; http://boonecountycatholics.blogspot.com/2011/08/observer-reports-south-beloit-church.html;  http://boonecountycatholics.blogspot.com/2011/07/look-at-what-happened-at-st-peters-in.html; and http://boonecountycatholics.blogspot.com/2011/07/beloit-daily-st-peters-school-building.html

 

Here is a very old Beloit Daily News article regarding what the St. Peter’s Parish was attempting to do under Father Koutnik.

Posted: Monday, March 10, 2008 12:00 am

from:  http://www.beloitdailynews.com/news/million-still-needed/article_868d64b9-6237-5aa1-8cc8-f85609593fee.html

$1 million still neededBy Ashley Rhodebeck
Daily News staff writerbeloitdailynews.com | 3 comments

St. Peter's asks community to help fund a larger school, gym and chapel in Roscoe

Late one morning last week, the Rev. Jerome Koutnik took a seat in a back pew of St. Peter's Catholic Church and began spouting the hardships the parish's 40-year-old school faces. Meanwhile, a cameraman panned the chapel, keeping the priest in frame.

“We're in definite need of a new building,” Koutnik began one take and explained how the roof above the first-grade classroom is leaking and the third-graders receive their lessons in a temporary structure resembling a mobile home.

Koutnik's recorded plea will be part of a five- to seven-minute DVD soliciting Stateline Area businesses for donations for the parish's capital campaign to build a one-story grammar school and chapel in Roscoe that would hold 250 students. About 144 attend St. Peter's Catholic School in South Beloit this year.

The Catholic Diocese of Rockford has owned the 15.8-acre site located across from the Hilander on Hononegah-Elevator Road for 20 years. St. Peter's began putting expansion plans in action in the past year after seeing Roscoe's, Rockton's and South Beloit's populations rise.

Moving to Roscoe is a logical choice because about 80 percent of St. Peter's congregation lives in the Rockton-Roscoe area, Koutnik said.

The second phase of the expansion project will include a $10 million church that will seat 1,000 and will have the capability to add another 500. The parish's current facility holds 380.

Renderings of the future school have been drafted, and Koutnik has begun discussions with the “unbelievably helpful” Village of Roscoe authorities about settling a pre-annexation agreement.

Just about everything is in place for a groundbreaking except for choosing a construction company and reaching the fundraising goal.

Since July 2007 more than 400 of the South Beloit church's 1,111 parishioners have committed $3 million to the new school, but Koutnik said another million is needed to start the project.

“If $1 million shows up we'll start right now,” he said. “The question is how to get the rest of the people to play their part.”

The average gift totals $1,400 per year over five years, Koutnik said and gestured toward a stack of 200 letters he planned to mail those who have not yet donated.

The church has also scheduled its second fundraiser, a spring gala dinner and auction for April 11 at the Radisson Hotel in Rockford. Tickets cost $100 and can be purchased by calling(815)389-2024 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (815)389-2024 end_of_the_skype_highlighting.

Koutnik hopes enough funds will be raised to build the school, gym and chapel, but, he said, if the money doesn't come through by next summer he will have to eliminate plans for the chapel.

“I don't want to, but I will,” Koutnik said. But, he added, “As long as God's in front of it I think everything's going to be fine.”

Despite the emphasis on fundraising, Koutnik said money isn't the forefront issue.

“It isn't as much about the money as it is about the spreading of the gospel,” he said, “and creating opportunities for people to draw closer to Jesus Christ.”

Update on Huntley Catholic Parish building drive

This was previously posted at:  http://boonecountycatholics.blogspot.com/2011/09/huntley-church-plans-big-expansion.html Appears to be some changes have occurred –cost was $5 million now $7 million.  Now appears that fund raising will not fund all of the project.

After only 10 years, St. Mary Catholic Church in Huntley already has outgrown its building and is seeking new space in which to grow its ministry.

The church hopes to build a 32,567-square-foot, single-story addition that would include a 600-person parish hall, a small chapel, office space, a full kitchen and 10 rooms that could be split into 17 meeting rooms, said Monsignor Steve Knox, the church’s pastor since 2004.

Church leaders brought the project to the Huntley village board’s committee of the whole last week and the body sent it to the planning and zoning commission for future review.

The project, designed by Barrington-based Ruck Pate Architecture, is expected to cost $7 million. The church plans to raise a large chunk of the money among its parishioners before applying for a loan, Knox said.

After only 10 years, St. Mary Catholic Church in Huntley already has outgrown its building and is seeking new space in which to grow its ministry.

The church hopes to build a 32,567-square-foot, single-story addition that would include a 600-person parish hall, a small chapel, office space, a full kitchen and 10 rooms that could be split into 17 meeting rooms, said Monsignor Steve Knox, the church’s pastor since 2004.

20110920/news/709209949/#ixzz1Ye8UgCOK

What amount should St. James’ regular collection be?

Based upon the fiscal years ending in June 30, 2008, 2009 and 2010 annual collections ranged from $818,677 to $ 831,196.  (See Financial Report shown below.)  Dividing the highest ($831,196) by 52 weeks of the year the weekly collection should average approximately $16,000 ($15,984 is the actual number).  The numbers for the year ending June 30, 2011 will not be available to parish as a whole until November, based upon a recent conversation with Father Geary.

The last four weeks of regular collections are shown  below.

 

Click on the photocopy to enlarge: 

 

Weekend of September 25, 2011

Weekend of September 18, 2011

Weekend of September 11, 2011

Weekend of September 4, 2011

Weekend of August 28, 2011

How is Rockford’s largest Catholic parish doing financially? October 2, 2011 Update

 

The following is taken from the October 9, 2011 bulletin from Holy Family Parish, Rockford, Il.  As of October 2 collections were 6.1% ($35,729/$587,104) below budget.  Comparing this with September 4th’s 6.7% shortfall—there is a small improvement.

The following is taken from the October 2, 2011 bulletin from Holy Family Parish, Rockford, Il.  As of September 25 collections were 9.4%  ($51,130/$545,168) below budget.

The following is taken from the September 25, 2011 bulletin from Holy Family Parish, Rockford, Il.  As of September 18 collections were   8.4%  ($42,366/503,232) below budget.

The following is taken from the September 18, 2011 bulletin from Holy Family Parish, Rockford, Il. As of September 11 collections were 6.7% ( $30,635/461,296)

below budget and as of September 4—5.2%  ( $21,871/419,360) below budget.

Official financial statements for FY 2011 are currently not available however contributions for FY 2011 appeared to be more than 10% below budget, see:  http://boonecountycatholics.blogspot.com/2011/07/holy-family-parish-rockfords-richest.html

Holy Family’s Finances: Financial Report to be presented in next few weeks

According to Holy Family’s September 11, 2011 Bulletin parishioners will be presented a brief financial report by the pastor, Monsignor Kagan, at each Mass.  That along with a published report will presented within the next “few weeks”.  (See page 4 of bulletin below)

 

Previously it was reported that contributions for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011 have ben running more than 10% under budgeted amounts.   Click on: http://boonecountycatholics.blogspot.com/2011/07/holy-family-parish-rockfords-richest.html

How are other parishes doing financially? St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Crystal Lake. St. Thomas the Apostle, Crystal Lake. St Joseph, Harvard. And the other Rockford Parish.

Interesting  how many of these parishes have budgets that the pastor has used to show how well the parish is doing financially.  No such information is provided in the bulletin for St. James, Belvidere.

 

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish was organized in 1978 and the new church was dedicated in 1982.  A parish center was built in 2001 and the current building debt is from that construction.  In 2007 the parish had 2,900 families. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton has no Catholic grade school but a Catholic grade school pre-3 through 8 is operated jointly with  the other Crystal Lake Parish, St. Thomas the Apostle.  St. Thomas the Apostle has 3400 parishioners as of 2007; it is the only church in Crystal Lake offering Masses in Spanish.

 

Based upon the bulletin, Sunday Offerings for the year at St. Elizabeth Seton are budgeted for $1,300,000 ($25,000 x 52 weeks) and at the current rate appear to be running more than $333,000 below budget.  ($7,000 difference X 52 weeks = $364,000).

St. Thomas the Apostle’s September 11, 2011 bulletin indicates that the previous week’s were basically as budgeted.

St. Joseph is somewhat below on collections during the summer but appears to have several weekly collections above the budgeted weekly amount.

 

 

9-11-2011/9-4-2011 St. Elizabeth Seton, Crystal Lake

 

 

9-11-2011 St. Thomas the Apostle, Crystal Lake

9-18-2011 St. Joseph’s,  Harvard.

As of 9-18-2011 collections are running 7.2% below budget.

 

 

 

 

 

9-18-2011, Sacred Heart, Marengo

9-18-2011 St. Catherine, Genoa

MORE ROCKFORD PARISHES

 

St. Anthony of Padua

St. Bernadette

St. Edward’s

8-7-2011/St. Edwards

St. Patrick’s

St. Rita

 

St. Stanislaus

DSP as of 9-11-2011/St. Stanislaus