Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

There is no denying that we live in the most rapidly changing society that the world has ever known.  Each day the morning news seems to bring yet another small revolution.  Just about everything seems up for grabs: the status of life at either the beginning or the end often hangs in the balance; neighborhoods that have treasured landmarks for years are quickly replaced by high-rise complexes.  Even long-held ideas about the person of Jesus as Son of God and Incarnate Word become fodder for popular best sellers.  We are easily wooed, it seems, by the latest and the greatest.  Instead of giving the next generation of young people a brightly wrapped gift of lasting values and historical memory, we will hand them instead a big fat question mark.  

Thank God for the church’s liturgical calendar.  The feast of Saint John Lateran comes around today, something like a faithful friend, to guide our way in troubled times.  This particular feast has a lot to tell us about the value of the church, our community, and the body of Christ that holds us together.  If you walk into Saint John Lateran in Rome, one of the four major basilicas in that great city, you will be immediately struck by the enormous columns typical of Romanesque architecture.  Clearly, these marble giants are there to support the whole structure.  Buttressing those columns are gigantic figures of the apostles, the witnesses to Christ’s presence here on earth, the foundation of the church.

The church has held fast the presence of those who have proclaimed, those who have healed, and those who have given their lives.  The Second Vatican Council’s majestic document on the church Lumen Gentium referred to the church as the “People of God.”  The council affirmed the integrity of the gathered faithful, echoing what Paul said to the Corinthians: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”  As the saying goes, we stand on the shoulders of giants.  The church is built on witnesses to God’s love, those who have gone before us, marked with the sign of faith.

Our Lord was unique among witnesses, the firstborn of the dead, the Son freely given to set his people free.  His cleansing action in the Temple in Jerusalem occurs at the beginning of John’s Gospel.  For John, the purging of the Temple is symbolic of the new order Jesus is initiating from the beginning: his own body, raised up and glorified.  Jesus himself becomes the site where all people come together.  He is the altar where sinners and outcasts are embraced.  He is the foundation that holds the whole church together.  He is the Spirit that continues to breathe life into the church, the gathered Eucharistic assembly.  We are this great procession of Christians who in our own time form the marvelous and diverse pillars of the church in downtown Seattle.

One of our many young adult parishioners, Adam Janicki, chair of our Finance Council, is now going to give us an overview of our stewardship of time, talent and treasure that makes everything worthwhile we do in worship and outreach worthwhile.  Christ is our sure foundation.

Thank you Father Paul for allowing me the opportunity to deliver the financial results of the parish for this past fiscal year.  My name is Adam Janicki and I currently serve as the Finance Committee chair.  Our committee meets on a monthly basis to review the financial results and to monitor the Church’s financial operations, and I want to say Thank you to the other committee members, Dick Vacca, Michele McCarthy and Kimberly Brown for their continued commitment to Christ our Hope.  I’m encouraged and happy to report we’ve seen tremendous growth at Christ our Hope since we opened our doors.    In fact, in the past year we’ve seen 100 new families register in the parish, and as a result we’ve seen unpredictable growth in our total collections and total expenses.  In this past fiscal year we had estimated total collections of $355 thousand compared to actual collections of $516 thousand, which was mostly attributable to increases in Sunday collections, so Thank You for your generosity!  Additionally, included in the overall collections was Archdiocesan assistance for a new parish, which ended in December 2013, for priest and lease subsidies with an overall impact of $40 thousand, which is not included in the budget going forward.

With this growth, the volume of information processed by Father and his team has increased dramatically.  From processing donations and collections, to front desk inquiries, to administrative and clerical work we have outgrown being a small new parish to a thriving growing church.  Therefore, in the past year we’ve hired personnel to assist Father in the administrative work and to provide continued presence at the front desk for our parishioners and visitors.  This will result in an increase of approximately $60 thousand in the current fiscal year.  However, these additional resources will allow Father more availability to continue his evangelization in downtown Seattle.

Next, now that we have completely finished Phase II of our construction project, with the remodel of the pastoral center, we want to establish means to protect this investment.  Therefore, we have established a repairs, maintenance and replacement reserve in fiscal year 2014-2015 of $12 thousand, so that we have designated cash to immediately respond to parish needs.  This will secure our ability to maintain our beautiful space within the Josephinum.

Lastly, now that we completed our construction and have parish staff to support our operations, we can now turn our focus on our community for which we serve.  Included in our mission at Christ our Hope is to provide, “evangelization and compassionate outreach, and responsible stewardship” in our community.  Therefore, in 2014, we have created an Outreach committee to develop a spending policy for social outreach, which will fund both continued outreach projects and additionally provide for one-off outreach requests.  Therefore, in 2015 we have designated 2.5% of Total Collection revenue to support outreach directly back to our community. 

For more information, please refer to the bulletin, which includes the full annual report.  Additionally, we have included a listing of specific cash already raised for social outreach ministries.  Lastly, I will be available after mass to respond to questions or provide further detail if anyone has questions on the Parish finances.  Thank you for your Time, Thank you for your commitment, and Thank you for your stewardship to Christ our Hope.

 Christ is the cornerstone.  Without Christ, our stewardship is empty.  As we speak his memory again at this saving banquet, let us become living stones in his body, the church.

Paul A. Magnano

Pastor