St. John Paul II Parish

Dear parishioners,

Thank you for your presence and participation in our parish. Thanks also for your generous stewardship and financial support of our faith community. We have tried to make this report brief and informative. If you would like more detail, we can provide it on request. We believe that our parish finances should be transparent.

At this point, you may want to leave this cover page and look at the report itself, then come back and read the rest of this.
 

Click Here for Full Report

We realize that this report contains sobering news and a challenging financial picture. We should not be discouraged. No dollar you give is wasted; we use it as all parishes do: to pay salaries, to keep on the lights, heat and air conditioning and so on. For over two years, we have not asked parishioners to discern if the Lord is asking us to increase our regular giving to the parish. Let us do so now prayerfully as we prepare for a New Year.

As you can see, we have decreased expenditures, and our income just about covers them, contrary to how it may appear at a quick glance. For example, our income for FY 2018/2019 was $800,092.29, and for FY 2019/2020 it was $879,141.92; but if we subtract the $77,750.00 we received from the federal government for COVID-19 relief package, then our FY 2019/2020 income drops to 800,211.92, almost exactly the same as the previous year.

The long and the short of it is that we have about as much income as we need to pay all our bills except about 150,000.00 we owe the diocese every year, and every year this amount is added to our debt, which right now is about $2,400,000.00. This is down from about 3,500,000.00 when I came in July of 2017. However, we do not want to keep accruing debt, but continue to work toward greater viability.

This past year, with the sale of St. Hedwig Church property, all obvious (although painful) ways to cut costs have been exhausted. It is time we explore all options to become a parish which has enough, but no more, of everything we need to thrive, live the faith and spread it to a community hungering to receive it. That is why we are forming a subcommittee of parish council and finance committee members called the Where Do We Take It from Here? Committee. It will be the job of this committee to examine resources and expenses, assets and liabilities, and make recommendations to help prune and maximize our resources. In this way, we will continue to work our way out of debt and toward greater viability.

Let us pray that the Holy Spirit will lead us to a place of hope and a new birth of joy and growth as the Body of Christ in St. John Paul II Parish in Southbridge: Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of Your love; send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created, and You will renew the Face of the earth. Amen

In Jesus and Mary,
Father Ken, the Parish Council, and the Finance Committee
 

Dear TCA Families/STJPII Parishioners,  

Welcome to all our new students and their families! As I’m sure you’re aware of by now, both the church and Trinity conduct multiple fundraisers throughout the year. The proceeds from these important events are what help keep our tuition as low as possible all while providing the best education possible for our students. One of these major fundraisers has been our annual live and silent auction which usually takes place at La Salle Reception Center in March and benefits both the school and the parish. Work begins on this event around September with a team made up of both parents and parishioners. Many hours go into making this event a fun-filled evening and a large success for both the school and St. John Paull II Parish. 

You all know very well that our world was put on hold last March without much warning. We made the difficult decision to postpone our auction first to August and then again to March 2021. No one could have predicted that we would have to address this once again. At that time our auction preparations were about 90% complete and we stored all our donations until we could safely hold our event. Given the current state of the pandemic we have decided to still hold our auction this coming March, but with a bit of a twist! 

A Night of Faith, Trust & Pixie Dust is going virtual! Our online auction will be held from March 1-13, 2021 with all our items available for viewing and bidding from the comfort and safety of your homes. Here is where we’re asking for your help. We are asking each classroom and the church parishioners to help us create a themed basket for online bidding. We are asking for either a monetary donation (brought to school or placed in the weekly collection baskets) or for you to shop from our Amazon wish list (be sure to use AmazonSmile to contribute to TCA) to avoid duplicates or similar items of the same theme. Monetary donations must be marked Donation for TCA/SJPII Auction. The deadline for this donation must be in to the school/ministry center or shipped no later than January 29, 2021. We appreciate your generosity and hope you will join us online to make our event another success. Attached please find our list for each classroom and the parish baskets and the link to our Amazon wish lists. Please contact either myself or Margaret Farrand with any questions via phone, text or email. Thank you for helping us make a little bit of magic this year! 

Melissa Cournoyer – FaithTrustDust21@gmail.com – 508.365.8209 

Margaret Farrand – FaithTrustDust21@gmail.com – 774.318.8083 

Click Here to be taken to the Wish List

Want to listen to more homilies from Father Ken?
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If you would like to donate to our restroom construction project you may click on this link: Donate Here, scroll down to "Any Parish Need", click on the button, and type "Restroom" in the comment box. That's it!

Thank you!!

Notre Dame Church - 446 Main Street, Southbridge, MA
St. Mary Church - 247 Hamilton Street, Southbridge, MA

Welcome!
If you are new to our parish, please introduce yourself after Mass to a member of our staff, so we may better serve you. 
¡Bienvenido! Si usted es nuevo en nuestra parroquia, preséntese después de la misa a un miembro de nuestro personal, para que podamos servirle mejor.

Rev. Kenneth Cardinale Pastor/Párroco ext. 103 krcardinale@gmail.com
Rev. Wilmar Ramos Associate Pastor/Vicario ext. 104 ramosq01@gmail.com

Sor Rosa Maria Campos, RODA Asistente Pastoral ext.107 SrRosaMaria.stjp2@gmail.com
Mrs. Madeleine Brouillard Business Manager 508-765-3701 ext. 105
MaddieB.stjp2@gmail.com
Deacon Juan Guzman juangzmasr53@gmail.com
Mrs. Bev Loconto Parish Secretary 508-765-3701 ext. 110
BevL.stjp2@gmail.com
Mrs. Margaret Farrand Rental Coordinator 774-318-8083 MargeF911@aol.com