Dear Friends,

Below you will find a letter from Christine Salimbene, Esq, Chairperson of our parish finance council. It is written on behalf of the council to inform you of our current financial condition.

Let me offer a short commentary on the letter. Certainly the times are very difficult. Along with the impact the disease itself has had on individuals, families, and in the community at large, we are all too familiar with its negative impact on the economy and how people's very livelihoods are now being threatened. Many people are out of work. Many are struggling to keep up with their obligations. Many people worry about the future.

The current situation our parish is facing, while serious, is not unique. All our parishes are similarly struggling. But there are signs of hope. I am both encouraged by and grateful for the way our parishioners are trying to support us during these times by using our online giving platform, Venmo, or by mailing in their envelopes every week. Our people are doing what they can, often generously and sacrificially, to sustain us through these anxious times. I thank you for this.

I am also hopeful that our parish will soon be receiving a federal loan to protect our employees under the SBA/Payroll Protection Program. These forgivable loans under the Small Business Administration are being extended to faith-based institutions and will protect our ability to meet our payroll obligations over the coming months. Although we were not able to receive this loan with the first release of federal money for the program, we expect to be included in the next round of funding due to be approved later today or tomorrow.

Thank you for your good stewardship of our parish and for all you do to keep faith and ministry alive and flourishing in our community.

Ora pro invicem
Let us pray for one another.
Msgr. Joe Celano
Pastor
 

Letter to the University & Community Parish of St. Peter the Apostle from the Parish Finance Council

April 23, 2020

Dear Fellow Parishioner,

Let me begin by introducing myself. My name is Christine Salimbene and I serve as chair of our parish finance council. I, and the other members of the council, together with our pastor Msgr. Celano, have been praying for you and sincerely hope that you are well during these uncertain times. I am grateful to Msgr. Celano for giving me this opportunity to update you on our parish’s financial condition.

First of all, thank you for the support you have provided us during this historic time. Both our pastor and the Finance Council are encouraged by how many of our parishioners continue to support our parish so that it may serve its mission during these difficult times.

Like all other parishes in our diocese and around the country where the public celebration of Mass has been suspended, our Sunday offering, which supports the ordinary operation of the parish, has dramatically fallen. The ordinary operations of the parish include things like salaries and benefits for our clergy and employees, property and liability insurance, and other obligations such as utility costs, contracted services, and funding for our ministries and programs. As of this writing, weekly collections have fallen by approximately 50%. The Easter offering, which last year rose to a new recent high at $19,000, fell to just short of $6,000 this year, a $13,000 loss. As you can see, since the ecclesiastical and civil restrictions were put in place to protect the community from COVID-19, our parish has entered a significant deficit mode and will most likely remain in it for the foreseeable future. All we can do is to try to manage this current fiscal crisis as much as possible.

In many ways, our parish is already operating at a minimum threshold of expenses. By that I mean St. Peter’s does not have the “extras” other parishes may have where we might look to reduce our expenses. As a result, there is not much to cut, except in the area of salaries and benefits for our lay employees, which Msgr. Celano is reluctant to do at this time unless it becomes necessary for him to do so. As the Finance Council informed you last year in our annual financial report, our priests’ salaries are partially subsidized by the Diocese of Metuchen, while the Catholic Center and campus ministry is wholly funded by the diocese. The diocese also pays 50% of the salary and benefits to our maintenance worker. Without these partial subsidies, the parish would not be able to support our priests, nor would we be able to employ other essential personnel like a shared maintenance worker, a part-time parish secretary, part-time business manager, or our music director.

However, given that we are not a parish with a large staff or expenses, there are still several measures Msgr. Celano has put in place to help reduce costs.

First, we have taken advantage of the federal government’s SBA (Small Business Administration) loan program, which also extends to places of worship and other non-profit organizations, and enrolled ourselves in the PPP (Payroll Protection Program) in the hope of covering our payroll. While we completed and submitted our application early, our financial institution delayed processing the application which resulted in the application not being filed before the money available in the PPP was exhausted. We hope to be included in the second round of forgivable loans which we understand and hope will shortly be approved in Congress.

Secondly, all non-essential expenses have been eliminated based on a careful review of our external vendors. Bills are being triaged in such a way that our essential obligations are being met first, such as utilities, insurance, etc., while others that are less essential are being partially paid or deferred until such a time as we have the cash on hand to pay them. We have also eliminated some non-essential services for the time being, like cleaning services for the church, and have reduced our office supplies and energy consumption.

While it is true that the parish has over $5 million in an endowment fund from the sale of the former parish high school, this money represents the future of the parish. The Finance Council, with Msgr. Celano’s approval, has adopted a strict policy about drawing only on the endowment’s interest, not the principal, and then only when it’s needed for capital improvement projects or other urgent and critical needs that cannot be funded through our ordinary operations. We will most likely need to draw from the interest on this account this year to cover our significant budgetary shortfalls. However, this is not something we can or should do regularly lest we place the parish’s future in jeopardy.

Lastly, we are also in the planning stages for needed fund-raising endeavors for the next fiscal year, and are also looking to reorganize and mobilize alumni associations both for the former St. Peter’s Schools and the Catholic Center at Rutgers. We hope these efforts will help strengthen the parish’s mission, build community, and be a source of support for the parish in the years to come.

So, what can you do to help? First and foremost, continue to pray for our parish clergy, religious, and staff, for those whose health and livelihoods have been impacted by COVID-19, and for the parish as a whole. Our priests and parish and campus ministry staffs are ministering in very difficult circumstances and need your prayers. We also know that many of our parishioners are suffering from the times, some with the virus itself, others from the loss of family members or friends who have succumbed to COVID-19, still others from the loss of employment, dwindling financial resources, and human isolation. Please remember them in your prayers, too, as well as our health-care professionals who are on the front lines of this terrible disease.

During this time, all we are asking is for each of our registered households, those students who may still be on campus, and our young adults, to do what they can to continue to support the parish. As Msgr. Celano recently wrote to the parish, please consider using online giving as your preferred way of supporting St. Peter if you have not already done so. We are asking this simply because automated giving provides the parish with a more reliable source of funding as compared with the envelope system. To enroll yourself or your household in automated giving, go to our website at stpeternewbrunswick.org and scroll down to find the button, “Online Giving”. Click on it and it will take you to the page to create your online giving account. Set a username, password, the amount you want to give and the frequency (weekly, biweekly, monthly, etc.) of the gift. It’s that simple. You can always go back to update your information or donation amount and schedule at any time. Automated giving can also be set up through your bank or credit card company. Finally, if you set up your online account through a credit card, please make sure the information is correct, including the security code and expiration date of the card. If you chose, you can receive a weekly notification by email of the donation and an alert when you credit card is about to expire.

If you prefer using the envelope system, kindly remember to mail them in every week.

If you are among those who cannot provide financial support to the parish at this time, then know we are grateful for your commitment to pray for us so that we never lack what we need to serve our mission to the city and university community. Commit yourself to one "Hail Mary" each day for this intention.

On behalf of the parish finance council. thank you for all you do to make mission and ministry possible at St. Peter.

Please remember to join us each week for the live-stream of Sunday Mass at 11AM on Facebook or by watching it later on the parish webpage. Let us continue to pray for the sick, the dying, the bereaved, and all those whose lives and livelihoods have been impacted by this pandemic.

In Christ,
Christine Salimbene, Esq.
Chair, St. Peter the Apostle University and Community Parish Finance Council