Replies

"Well, no surprise, I totally disagree! Our parish can't support the cost of one priest, much less a family. In fact, they can't support the cost of the current building (our original Church burned to the ground 60 years ago)."

Maybe your parishioners aren't giving enough. We have a budget of about $118,000.00 per year. We have 105 "pledging units". Each "unit" is either an individual or a family. On that we pay an Archdiocesan "assessment" of $12,600.00, the priest, including salary, full, no deductible health insurance, car allowance, housing allowance, retirement and disability, both sides of the FICA and telephone allowance...then we pay all the other bills. We don;t get one dime from the Metropolis or the Archdiocese. Three years ago we raised $108,000.00 to install a three stop elevator. We are also located in the second poorest county in the entire Metropolis. It takes lots of work with suppers and festivals and pastry sales, etc and real deep digging/giving.

"Puhlease! Such nonsense! These 'scandals' have not been a factor in the Maronite Church and you know it."

NYer, I wasn't speaking of sex scandals in the Maronite Church here. I specifically referred to the Latin Rite. +Nasrallah sends celibate priests here because the Maronite Church has traditionally been deferential to Rome outside of Lebanon and Rome has, again traditionally, been opposed to married Eastern Rite clergy serving here in the States.

"Our pastor has one set of vestments - white - and wears donated Latin vestments during Advent and Lent. There is barely enough money to support him, much less a wife and children."

Why so little money for him? As for the vestments, doesn't anybody sew in your parish? Some of our priest's vestments and all of the altar clothes and altar boy vestments were and are being as I write, made by the parishioners.

"He has voluntarily chosen to live a celibate life...."

All monastics, I would hope, voluntarily choose that life.

Maybe your parishioners aren't giving enough. We have a budget of about $118,000.00 per year. We have 105 "pledging units". Each "unit" is either an individual or a family. On that we pay an Archdiocesan "assessment" of $12,600.00, the priest, including salary, full, no deductible health insurance, car allowance, housing allowance, retirement and disability, both sides of the FICA and telephone allowance...then we pay all the other bills. We don;t get one dime from the Metropolis or the Archdiocese. Three years ago we raised $108,000.00 to install a three stop elevator. We are also located in the second poorest county in the entire Metropolis. It takes lots of work with suppers and festivals and pastry sales, etc and real deep digging/giving.

We have less than 50 'registered' families. Were they to fulfill their weekly financial obligation, we might be in better shape. However, only a small handful are considered regulars. The others come when the mood strikes; otherwise they go to a RC Church closer to home. No amount of cajoling or reminders to make up their weekly envelopes, has been effective.

As to women who sew, there are a few who can fix things up but none who can make vestments. We have a vestment fund but here again, that entails additional giving on the part of those who already don't attend on a regular basis. Abouna will look into a new set of vestments made by the nuns in Lebanon. There is also the question of who owns the vestments - the priest or the parish.

When it comes to fundraisers, those monies now go to keeping the existing facility up and running until we complete restoration of the future church. The big difference, K, is that the parish sold off its Hall about 20 years ago. Once we move, the current building will become the parish Hall which we expect will generate sufficient revenue for both facilities. Until then, the annual challenge is to keep everyone sufficiently motivated to sell their share of fundraiser tickets - no mean feat.