St. Dominic Catholic Church

Pastor's Corner

April 9, 2017

Brothers and sisters, I wish I had a more spiritual reflection as we prepare to enter into Holy Week and prepare for the Paschal Triduum (Latin for three days) of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter.  I have wanted for a long time to make a financial report to the parish, but have been delayed.  The archdiocese has asked all parishes to use a standard chart of accounts, and Rosalinda, our bookkeeper, has been re-entering data and working with TCM, an accounting oversight firm, as we shift to these new categories. 

It is my intention to give you a monthly summary of our monthly and year-to-date finances.  It is important that we help you understand our financial situation, which is overseen by the parish Finance Committee (a committee required by Church law!)  This report is more detailed than the ones that will follow, and is accompanied by an explanation and commentary.  You will also receive a detailed year-end report in the beginning of August.

I also intend to give regular reports on the status of our capital campaign and renovation project.  I’ll begin by recapping what has happened so far – at least since I’ve been pastor – and explain why you haven’t been hearing much!  Then I’ll be including in the pastor’s corner from time to time updates on the fundraising and construction.

As any of you who have built a home know, there are lots of details to consider.  For example, the last thing standing in the way of our completion of the repair of the large room on the second floor is a detail that had been overlooked for decades: the building was built originally across two city lots.  Our architect discovered this error.  For the last three weeks, he has been shepherding the process with the city of tying these two lots together.  The final holdup is the plan check engineer from the city, who wants to check the original building plans in the city’s files to make sure it was originally built as a two-story structure!

We still have a lot of fundraising to do to be able to renovate the rest of the building.  We’ll keep you posted.