As is our custom today, I am going to present you with the annual report on the state of the parish. Because of time constraints, I will try to point out only one or two things from each page.
This year we spent a whole lot of time concerned about the Kensington Grammar School Development and our desperate need to replace the parking spots that would have been lost if it had gone through.
It was our opinion that if we lost ¼ of our parking, our Mass attendance and parish life would have suffered significantly. The whole parish owes a debt of gratitude to the members of our parking committee.
We also saw our parish involvement expand with the creation of two Youth Groups, the Helping Hands Ministry for our Seniors and the continued efforts of the Family Life Committee, a group dedicated to our young families.
In the area of Adult faith formation, we also added two scripture study sessions and the “Build up Faith” seminars by Fr. Peter.
We hope to continue to grow involvement in our parish initiatives.
The Lord continues to add to our numbers. This year over 80 families joined our parish - that’s around 7 families per month, which is pretty incredible.
This brought us 199 new members. Most of these new members are people moving into Berlin.
Our profit and loss statement looks good. We stayed within our budget and were well within our bottom line. The only place we were a little over was the event category, and I am sure you will agree that the Ordination was well worth the expense.
On the Balance Sheet you will note that we ended the year with $230,000 more than what we started with. Our cash assets on Dec 31 were are $812,256. Of that... $77,000 is the Annual Appeal money to be used to install the Fire Alarm and increased security in our Church and in the parish center. $50,000 is set aside for the Cathedraticum due to the Archdiocese.
You might not have noticed it, but we have Great news... Through the efforts of the Director of Advancement for our School, we received a grant of $130,000 to replace the windows in the School. That’s $130,000 we didn’t have. This grant came from Cigna, ConnectiCare and CL&P. The original windows are in really rough shape and many don’t lock or close securely. In light of events, I am sure you will all agree that we want to be able to securely lock our school.
We have never received a grant like this before, and I promise you that we will continue to look for grants that will help our parish and our school.
On the last page is a ten year plan of things which will need to be attended to and a rough estimate of the cost.
Need to get done.... right now the elevator shaft has 8 inches of water and the blizzard damaged part of the Old Wind roof.
Each year we have been trying to slowly chip away at these important projects.
Now for the Big News
After extensive consultation with the lay leadership of the parish,
the Archdiocese, Archbishop Mansell, Mayor Salina and the Town of Berlin, this week we will be signing the papers to purchase the Kensington Grammar School property.
I can’t believe there has ever been an issue so carefully studied in the history of the parish. I assure you we have done our due diligence.
This purchase is absolutely necessary for the future of St. Paul Church, but it is also very expensive.
It will cost us just under $600,000 to purchase the property and 1.2 million to abate and tear down the building.
We are taking $400,000 from our savings and have acquired a loan from the Knights of Columbus to cover the remaining 200,000 of the purchase cost.
The parish leadership will continue to explore how we will fund the abatement and demolition of the buildings.
The possibilities may include grants and a capital campaign in the future.
There are actually two buildings over there, and because they have been vacant for so long, it is next to impossible for us to rehabilitate them. One of the developers told me it would cost $5,000,000 to completely gut and restore the building and that’s way beyond our means.
Why are we buying the 2.9 acres of Kensington Grammar School property?
Simply put, we have used it without permission for as long as anyone can remember and we have grown to depend on it. Every day of the week people park there.
When the KGS lot was not plowed on Ash Wednesday this year, there was literally no place to park and many people told us that they gave up and left. Without the KGS property we would lose 25% of our parking and we believe it would adversely affect our mass attendance and parish life
We are also buying it to protect our Church, school and neighborhood from unreasonable development. No one would have ever thought that someone would think to put eight 3 story buildings in addition to the school building on that 2.9 acres - yet that was what was proposed. If that development had gone though, it would have been devastating to us and the neighborhood.
We are also buying the Kensington Grammar School for the future... I’ll have more to say about that in a moment.
This is how we came to this decision . . .
When we learned they were going to develop the property, we knew that without the KGS parking people would simply keep driving and our Mass attendance would begin to decrease.
When the whole matter was studied by the Parking Committee, they presented their findings to the Parish Lay Leadership, including the Pastoral Council, the Finance Committee and the School Board. At the first meeting, only one person in all three groups opposed the purchase of the KGS.
At a second meeting, there was a spirited debate; (I guess you guys in Berlin are noted for that) but after the discussion, the vote to purchase the Kensington Grammar School was unanimous.
At a third meeting all the parish leadership was once again updated with additional information on the property and not one person was opposed to the purchase.
Every single person on the Pastoral Council, the Finance Committee, and the School Board ended up in favor of purchasing the property. After the first meeting there was no one who came to me and said don’t do it.
What are we going to do with it?
The first thing we are going to do is do our best to secure it to keep the kids out. (After the blizzard there were footprints in the snow going into the building.)
This spring we are going to need parish volunteers to help us clean up the grounds and we won’t have the money to hire someone. It’s a mess over there.
For now we will use it like we always have for parking.
In the future, when the building comes down, maybe it will be a parking lot and a soccer field, or who knows.
Some day, in the distant future, it may well be a beautiful parish center or an early childhood development center.
I know this is a huge expense and there is always an element of risk.
However, it is the opinion of the Finance Committee that we are in a good position financially.
The Lord continues to bless us with new members...
Our parish involvement is increasing.
Our School is stable and we are even expanding our incredible Pre-K Program.
We all know that if you are not moving forward you are moving backwards.
As I was preparing these remarks, I discovered a strange coincidence, maybe we could call it a “Godincidence.”
Exactly 100 years ago tomorrow, the first St. Paul Church on Main Street burned down. Can you imagine how lucky we are to be putting in a fire alarm?
After the fire, the Pastor, Fr. Brennan, and the parishioners got together and took a huge leap of faith in our Parish and our town.
They decided not to rebuild the little wooden church on Main Street, because they believed the property was too small and there was no room to expand.
Instead, they bought what they thought was a huge piece of property on Alling Street bordered by Peck and Grove Hill. It was the up and coming neighborhood.
The town had just closed all of its one room school houses and consolidated them into the Kensington Grammar School across the street three years before.
On their new property, the parishioners didn’t build a little wooden Church. They built a much larger brick church, which we all love and which we still use today.
They had vision and were willing to sacrifice for the future.
Happily, almost exactly 100 years later, we have outgrown their purchase.
Right now we are like a size 11 foot in a size 9 shoe. There is just no more room.
Our Parish continues to expand and our town continues to expand.
Now it is up to us to have the same kind of vision and generosity for future generations.
The lay leadership and I are convinced that this is the right thing to do and the necessary thing to do to give our parish a vibrant future.
Everyone one is on board. If I ask them their opinion one more time they are going to run out of the room screaming.
We have a lot of work and sacrifice ahead of us, but I know we are up to the task.
May God bless you and your families.
And may God continue to bless St. Paul Church for the next 100 years.