Bruce Doud delivered the bracing news at the masses this weekend. John Kirwin, our parish priest, underscored the message in his letter included with the Annual Parish Financial Report in the Bulletin -- we need to take our generosity to a new level of support. The parish and the Center are both running defictis. Last year the Center's revenues dropped $8,000, while costs rose subtantially. Those cost increases were driven primarily by a lack of surplus food. The Center's staff and volunteers are actively searching for new sources of income and have pledged to "reduce expenditures to operate within this year's budget."
With escalating energy costs in general, the addition of the heating and cooling costs for the Firehouse, and the ever present needed repairs in our old buildings, Father Kirwin informed the parish community that it was "imperative" to ask for an increase in offertory contributions of at least 20 percent. "We must develop responsible fiscal stewardship," he wrote, "whereby each parishioner gives their fair share that we might properly sustain our spiritual and physical vision."
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