March 21, 2010
Dear Parish Family of St. Charles Borromeo Church,
As you are aware, on March 1st the Diocese of Brooklyn kicked off a strategic planning process designed to address the critical issues of financial stability and changing demographics that will have an impact on the Church in Brooklyn and Queens. The goal for the diocese, and for St. Charles, is to ensure that we have the resources needed to support our pastoral mission both now and in the future.
St. Charles Borromeo, and every parish in the diocese as part of this planning process, was asked to pull together key information on the spiritual life and financial status of our parish. Outlined in the table below is the information that St. Charles was asked to provide to the diocese
As can be seen in the data below, parishioner involvement in the spiritual life and stewardship of St. Charles is growing. More and more parishioners are sharing their time and talent with St. Charles. And as a result of the 2009 Increased Parish Giving Campaign, we have seen a significant increase in Sunday donations, with a 24% increase (from $3528 to $4388) in the average Sunday collection for the first half of fiscal year 2010 (Sept 1, 2009 through Feb 28, 2010). In addition, we continue to work to identify a tenant to lease the school building.
| 1999 | 2005 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | |
| Baptisms | 28 | 33 | 30 | 29 | |
| Marriages | 15 | 14 | 13 | 11 | |
| Marriage Preparation – 2010 | 31 | ||||
| RCIA | 1 | 5 | 6 | 8 | |
| Mass Attendance (average weekly) | 421 | 447 |
| Parish Organizations | # Parishioners Involved | Liturgical Ministries | # Parishioners Involved | |
| Boy Scouts | 13 | EMHC’s | 9 | |
| Rosary | 10 | Lectors | 12 | |
| Senior Outreach | 4 | Ushers | 15 | |
| Community Service | 4 | Altar Servers | 6 | |
| Stewardship Committee | 5 | Greeters | 3 | |
| Activities Committee | 12 | Choir | 5 | |
| Book Group | 8 | |||
| Decorating/Garden Committee | 10 | Others | ||
| Building/Repair Committee | 4 | Pre-school/Nursery School Bible Story Time | 8 | |
| Website Marketing Committee | 5 | Religious Education Teachers | 7 | |
| Bulletin Committee | 3 | Catechists in Training Program | 3 | |
| Weekly Collection Team | 3 | Pastoral Council | 12 | |
| Parish Finance Committee | 4 | Vocation Committee | 4 |
The report that St. Charles provided to the diocese also included information on our Lenten and Advent Learning Programs, Lenten Adoration of the Eucharist, the Annual Fall Concert, Monthly Coffee Hours, and Parish Clean-ups.
The next step in the planning process will be to hold meetings where we will ask all the parishioners of St. Charles to help us respond to several survey questions about the parish. We will also provide a summary update to the financial information that was shared with the parish during the Increased Parish Giving Campaign in 2009. Therefore, we ask that every parishioner take some time to review all the information contained in this letter. We will hold short meetings after all the masses on Sunday, April 18 and Sunday, April 25. Our goal is to ensure that we enable as many parishioners as possible to participate in the survey sessions. The survey questions will be published in the bulletin on Sunday, April 11 and on the parish website. Please mark your calendars and plan to join us to share your thoughts and suggestions.
Your Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
The Pastoral Council, Parish Trustees, and Parish Finance Committee