Stewardship plans paying off

We're blessed with many generous givers in our church. Our preparations before moving into our new space are paying off. But as we take on more expenses, including a monthly mortgage, maintenance, service contracts, and salaries, our offertory must also increase.

When we estimated our offertory budget for our first full year, there were many unknowns, especially how many parishioners would return after the COVID shutdowns and how many new parishioners would join us. Your generosity and tremendous response to the $25 thousand Christmas challenge helped us surpass our budget. Wise and prudent budgeting means no surprises; we're grateful for that.

The sooner we can pay off our mortgage, the better our financial position will be for future growth and the dream on the horizon of building a church. To date, we've reduced the terms of our $2.75 million 18-year diocesan loan to 14 years. The current balance is $2.13 million. So, please know your generosity will greatly help us to achieve this important financial goal.

Your kindness allowed us to give:

• $3,749 from the Ash Wednesday collection to the Brown Bag Ministry to provide lunches to the homeless in Wake and Durham counties

• $3,721 from the Holy Thursday collection to Habitat for Humanity

• $3,215 from the Good Friday collection to help Christians in the Holy Land

• $2,174 to CRS Rice Bowl to assist the impoverished and disadvantaged outside the United States

• $2,512 to Catholic Relief Services

• $9,479 for our outdoor gathering space

Finally, thank you for helping us to reach our 2024 Bishop's Annual Appeal goal of $79,045. As Mother Teresa said, "Together, we can do great things!"