Parish of St. Monica, Pastoral Outreach January 2014

Let me provide some thoughts about the pastoral outreach at St. Monica

This is a parish that is very generous especially in terms of the financial support of numerous causes. The issue is that "outreach" at St. Monica is all over the place. There doesn’t seem to be any criteria as to who receives support, when or why. The number of individual people/organizations who receive support seems large. There seems to be little discernment, consultation or transparency especially considering the amount of funds distributed. There also does not seem to be a personal “relationship” between the parish/parishioners and the recipients of the parish largesse.

Allow me provide some specifics, propose a recommendation and let you know what I need:   

Over the past 2 years the parish distributed over $51,000 to various causes. 

Besides assistance to St. Monica families, I count over 25 different groups/organizations/people who received assistance or support.

The general breakdown was as follows:- 29% - To Families (tuition assistance, food, utilities, medical,

household items)- 34% - To Institutions (Sisters of St. Joseph Welcome Center, St.

Malachy Inner city School, Daughters of Charity, St. Patrick Fathers)

- 37% - Other 

ISSUES: Pastoral Priorities - What are the pastoral priorities of St. Monica? How

does our pastoral outreach align with these pastoral priorities? Both should be developed, understood and stated. 

Transparency - This amount of money should have another set of eyes on it than just the Pastor. The decision for distribution of outreach funds should also not simply be according to the discretion of the Pastor, it needs a more developed criterion.  

Awareness #1 - The parish should know the extent of the outreach of St. Monica. This is really good news! I also don't think that most people realize the good that is being done in the name of the parish. Also, we need to publicize what outreach opportunities are available in a comprehensive and easy-to-understand format. Thus hopefully people will see this and might feel called to a place where they can engage.

Awareness #2 - The parish should know whom we are supporting and why. This, in turn, then leads to --->

Relationships - Our outreach should be relationship-based and not just "people/organizations to whom we send a check."

MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS:

Should parish organizations that receive funds be asked to contribute something also to help support their own mission or is that fall under the "mission" of the parish (“Pro-life Group,” and “Youth Group” comes to mind).  

WHAT IS NEEDED:

A group of people who will look at the entire pastoral outreach situation at St. Monica,

Come up with a set of principles or guidelines that will direct the pastoral outreach effort of the parish.

Develop a plan/strategy for the next two years. Propose a budget on how and where funds should be disbursed based on

principles/guidelines. Make recommendations to the Pastor, Parish Pastoral and Finance

Councils on how to proceed.

Nancy Stemper is a daily Mass participant who has offered to begin this effort.

POSSIBLE STEPS / GOALS:

List all of the persons/organization to whom/which we have provided assistance. 

Collect a brief synopsis about them (Who are they? What is their mission? What amount did we give them? What were the criteria used to provide for them?) Diane Pealer, Cathy Levine and Terry Carey can help here.

Establish criteria by which St. Monica will provide assistance.  Decide to which organizations/people/initiatives we will provide

assistance. Provide an increased level of financial transparency while also providing

confidentiality for particular people/families/organizations whose identity should not be known outside of a very select group (Pastor, Head of Outreach Mission, Terry Carey for example)

Budget a discretionary "pool" of funds for the Pastor for smaller or one-time support. Pool amount should be stated and, once depleted, that's it for that year.

CURRENT COLLECTIONS AND SOURCES OF FUNDS:

St. Vincent de Paul - General, discretionary fund of Pastor Poor Box - Currently goes to 12 designated recipients (see below) US Bishops and Archdiocesan "designated" collections (see below) Other parish special collections (Priest-for-Life recently, collection for

Philippines) 

CURRENT RECIPIENTS AND DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS:

Designated (‘mandatory”) US Bishops/Archdiocesan Collections:

Catholic Relief Service - January Catholic Charities Appeal - February (early) Care of Aging/Infirm Priests of Philadelphia - February (late)   Collection for Chaplaincy of Archdiocese of Military Services ((Any Sunday

in Lent) Church in Latin America (March) Holy Land shrines (April) Catholic Home Missions (May) Peter's Pence (June) Campaign for Human Development (July) Catholic University (August) Black and Indian Missions (September) Mission Sunday (October) St. Charles Seminary (November) Retirement Fund for Religious (December)     

Poor Box Distribution Schedule:

Month Funds To: 

January Bethsaida Project February Sisters of Saint Joseph March Saint Monica Parish Saint Vincent DePaul Fund April Sisters of Saint Joseph Adult Literacy Program May Bethsaida Project June Mary Knoll Fathers - Missioners July FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students)  August Saint Gabriel’s Food CupboardSeptember Sisters of Saint Joseph Adult Literacy Program October Respect Life November Saint Patrick Fathers December AIDS Ministry – Calcutta House