September 2016

Our Parish is blessed to have so many generous people who give so unselfishly to help us live our Mission to serve Christ and the community. This report is an annual summary of some of the examples of the three T’s in action.

Some background information on our parish:

We have 1,826 Registered Active families.

Our database has 2,023 unregistered and inactive families.

Our total database includes: 3,849 families.

We have 1,603 families that include adults with children.

We have 203 families with no children. (20 did not specify)

Our population of registered families includes 6,182 souls:

3,028 are male and 3,134 are female.

2,934 of the total are children (1,492 boys & 1,435 girls)

The median age in our parish is 42.85 years of age.

(All numbers are based on the church calendar year which runs from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016)

Our Bishop Confirmed 91 young adults this fall.

Our parish priests:

Celebrate an average of 16 Masses per week.

Baptized 38 people this year.

Provided First Holy Eucharist for 99 children this year.

Witnessed 14 marriages this year.

Walked with 24 families in praying for Eternal Rest for our brothers and sisters.

Anointed or gave last rites to over 146 individuals this year.

Blessed over 118 cars and homes this year.

Heard confessions for more than 136 hours.

Did you know we have over 40 Active Ministries?

Here are some of the highlights:

New classes starting in the fall and Fr. James will be the facilitator.

Our Respect Life group continues to keep parishioners informed of Diocesan and Gospel of Life activities. They attend monthly meetings and will continue to keep us informed of opportunities to affirm life.

Soup Kitchen –Various programs include a daily Food Recovery Program, 2 monthly collections of requested food items provided by parishioners, the preparation and serving of four meals a month at the Manna House Soup Kitchen and an annual food drive at Stop and Shop in October. We have over 88 volunteers and approximately 55 parishioners provide monthly food donations.

Communion Services are held weekly at Wilton Commons, Wilton Meadows and a few other locations throughout the year. Our priests celebrate Mass weekly at Brookdale, The Greens and Lourdes. Volunteers assist at all these locations. If interested, please call the office. In addition, many Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist bring the Precious Body to homebound residents.

Knights of Columbus - Many brothers contribute time and money to make OLF an active and fun parish. Our members hope to teach young people the joys of Christ and our faith everySunday and serve as ushers, lectors and are active in various ministries. The Knights have sponsored parish community building through coffee and donuts every month, Christmas with St. Nick, and countless hours of work on Homefront. They have been available at a moment’s notice to help when needed- cleaning church, cooking for youth activities, etc. Other programs have included “Coats for Kids”, wheelchair program, handicap tootsie roll drive and seminarian support to name a few.

The OLF Garden: Growing for Good was started in April of 2016 with the goal of providing fresh, nutritious produce to the area food pantries. In its first year the gardens supplied the Wilton Social Services Food Pantry with over 100 gallons of produce, including spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and cabbage. Expanded gardens are planned for the future to reach an even broader segment of our community, with the hope of involving parishioners of all ages as volunteers in this effort.

The Religious Education program at Our Lady of Fatima is alive andwell! It is a joy to minister to over nine hundred of our parish children,

ranging in age from Pre-K to ninth grade. With a staff of five and an

amazing group of sixty volunteers, classes are held from September to

April. Highlights of the year include the reception of the sacraments of

Reconciliation and Eucharist for the second graders and Confirmation

for ninth graders. In addition to learning the truths of our faith, children

are guided to LIVE that faith through service. This year, children

contributed much-needed items for babies at Malta House and hosted

a Christmas party for children from Blessed Sacrament parish in

Bridgeport. Making good disciples is what our program is all about!

FUNERAL HOSPITALITY MINISTRY - Prepare luncheons/receptions that take place following funerals. Involves set-up/clean up, picking up catered food, purchasing sundry items, and serving during luncheon. This provides the grieving with an opportunity to visit with family and friends following a funeral without the worry of preparing, serving, etc. Guests (from other faiths/outside parishes) have commented over the past year what a wonderful service this is that OLF provides!

Bereavement Ministry – Sr. Celine continues to spearhead this effort to comfort grieving families through phone calls, meetings and counseling. She also sets up occasional luncheons and assists the clergy in ensuring the family has all they need to cope with the loss of their loved one.

Divorced and Separated - A new ministry to assist with individuals or couples as they transition to new stages and challenges in life. Meetings and information are confidential. Please call the office to find out more information.

Columbiettes –The Columbiettes volunteer for many events and functions to assist the parish and other ministries. They also participate and support most Knights of Columbus Events.

Altar Servers – Children in grades 5 and up assist at our weekend masses as well as special events. Many vocations start from altar serving. Training and uniforms are provided.

Theology on Tap - Theology on Tap is a forum open to the parish that meets 9 times a year in a private room at Marly’s restaurant in Wilton.There is one coordinator for this ministry.Meetings are usually on Thursdays and take place between September and June.Dates are confirmed with Fr. Reggie by mid-summer.We do not meet in December.Topic requests are gathered from past attendees and sent to Fr. Reggie for approval.Blurb on each session is then sent to parish secretary to publish in weekly bulletin.

Sample past topics include:

How to go to Mass

Overcoming Guilt

Heaven and Hell

How to Foster Evangelical Outreach. Interfaith Dialog

What separates Catholic faith from other forms of Christianity?

Where is our Messiah during the worlds’ turmoil, pain and suffering, tragedy, and war?

Confession/Reconciliation

How do we engage younger generations?

Cafeteria Catholics

The Mission Church

An email reminder is sent to a distribution list of past attendees.

There are between 4 and 15 attendees at each session.

Guests are greeted at restaurant and attendance is taken.Wait staff supplies pitchers of water, and appetizers are ordered based on group.There is a cash bar.

Moms and Tots: Meet other Moms and enjoy story time, fee play, arts & crafts This is a free program for all moms and children ages 0-3. Join them at Our Lady of Fatima School for a new program on Wed., Sept. 21st 10-11 AM.

Ministry / Hours/Year
Adoration
Day - Ro Clarke / 288
Night - Franey Donovan / 245
Altar Servers / 416
Beautification / 60
Bereavement / 72
Bible Study / 80
Columbiettes / 500
E.O. Minister of the Holy Eucharist / 1288
Sick Calls, Euch. Services, Sunday / 1014
Funeral Hospitality / 100
Growing for the Good / 280
Homefront / 160
Kennedy's Rosary Project / 120
Knights of Columbus / 1900
Lectors / 416
OLF Men's group / 400
Moms and Tots / 240
Religious Ed. Catechists / 1315
Respect Life / 50
Soup Kitchen / 3200
Soul Suppers / 240
Spiritual Break Group / 240
Theology on Tap / 240
Ushers / 1288
Welcoming Committee / 48
Total / 14200

Our Volunteers donate over 14,200 hours that we have conservatively calculated. If you calculated the current State minimum wage – it calculates to over $143,420

in time and talent donated to our parish. Thank you to all our volunteers.

THE POWER OF WITNESSING

One of the most important commandments that Jesus left us with before he was taken up to heaven is contained in the first chapter of the Book of Acts.

The Book of Acts tells us that, after his resurrection, Jesus spent forty days teaching the apostles about the Kingdom of God, and just before He left them, He gave them a last, important commandment. In Acts 1:8, Jesus tells his apostles: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Just How Important Is This Personal Experience in Order to Be a Witness?Let’s say for example that you watched a movie, or television show, and you wanted to share the experience of watching it with your friend.Having watched it yourself, you are able to tell your friend all about the show and what it means to watch it. Now, your friend, not having watched it, could now tell another person about the show, but because of a lack of personal experience, he probably wouldn’t be able to do as good a job of it as you could.Now let’s apply this to your Christian witness.

We will be accepting personal witness stories to be published in the bulletin. You can use your first name only or change your name. We want to hear your story and share it with others so that we can all become stronger in our relationship to Christ. More information will follow soon! Please think about your witness story so that we can help others who seek to find Christ.

Our parish is a very generous community. We support the Church locally and globally. We take care of those in need all around us.

The question that many ask is: Where does our money go???

We have 1,826 registered and active families.

We mail out around 830 sets of envelopes which is 45.45% of our registered families.

We have over 120 families who use On-line giving which is 6.57 % of our registered families.

On a weekly basis we average 245 gifts (envelope and online) which is 13.42 % of our registered families.

We have 214 registered families who have not contributed to the parish during the last calendar year which is 11.72% of our families.

We have 52 families who give annual gifts which is 2.85 % of our families.

In general, we can account for 27.98% of our families’ giving patterns.

We are aware that there are many families that only contribute during the holidays. This giving pattern makes our cash flow management difficult to manage.

Please see the Cash Flow Chart on the next Page.

Monthly Parish Cash Flow
Income / Expenses / Net / Cumm. Diff.
July-15^ / $ 156,786.56 / $ 68,929.19 / $ 87,857.37 / $ 87,857.37
August-15 / $ 64,969.28 / $ 94,670.95 / $ (29,701.67) / $ 58,155.70
September-15 / $ 64,645.11 / $ 86,242.12 / $ (21,597.01) / $ 36,558.69
October-15 / $ 93,334.14 / $ 99,482.63 / $ (6,148.49) / $ 30,410.20
November-15 / $ 102,323.59 / $ 110,189.09 / $ (7,865.50) / $ 22,544.70
Dec-15^^ / $ 148,264.03 / $ 110,947.51 / $ 37,316.52 / $ 59,861.22
January-16 / $ 54,859.86 / $ 94,456.67 / $ (39,596.81) / $ 20,264.41
February-16 / $ 72,522.20 / $ 74,606.25 / $ (2,084.05) / $ 18,180.36
March-16^^^ / $ 164,487.04 / $ 88,255.30 / $ 76,231.74 / $ 94,412.10
April-16# / $ 143,324.59 / $ 100,164.53 / $ 43,160.06 / $ 137,572.16
May-16 / $ 92,629.93 / $ 92,884.34 / $ (254.41) / $ 137,317.75
June-16## / $ 94,444.29 / $ 136,002.74 / $ (41,558.45) / $ 95,759.30
$ 1,252,590.62 / $ 1,156,831.32 / $ 95,759.30
Less Restricted Funds for School Donations / $ 70,000.00
Total Net / $ 25,759.30

^ Includes Revenue from Religious Education Fees that will be spent later in September.

^^ Includes Christmas Collection

^^^ Includes Easter Collection

# Includes large donation for School Renovations ($70,000 to be spent over summer)

## Includes end of year expenses and payment for summer projects.

Some income (i.e. Annual Catholic Appeal) does not come through our system).

Our average Expenses run at $96,500 per month. To run at a positive cash flow, it would be ideal to have income at that level or greater each month.

We cannot continue to count on Holiday collections to run our daily operations.

We must also acknowledge that our facility was renovated over 20 years ago and we are starting to see items break or need replacement and forecast that our long term income needs will increase.

They Say…

… Here is a picture of what the parish revenue and expenses look like:

Some interesting things that you might not know

  • On-line giving has increase by more than 400 % over the last three years.
  • On-line givers have their own login and password and manage their own accounts unless they ask us to manage it for them.
  • Over 19% of revenue collected, leaves our parish.
  • Flower donations are used only for flowers. We do not spend the entire amount collected for holidays (Easter and Christmas) but use the remaining funds to provide fresh flowers for the Vases next to the tabernacle.
  • Some parishioners donate to a specific fund and those funds are restricted for that use only (i.e. new floors, repairs, etc.).
  • Our parish is the landlord (owner) of the school and convent and ultimately responsible for their up keep (if rent is received).
  • Our Finance Council meets 10 times a year and advises the pastor on all financial decisions. They also approve the parish financial reports and budget.
  • Our staff is compensated comparable to corporate America which is higher than “church” wages. Employees must work 30 hours per week or more to receive benefits.
  • Our parish is one of only about 10% of parishes that have an investment account. The Finance Council is managing the fund so that it will eventually be performing well enough to allow us to do repairs with the gains.
  • Our parish does not pay late fees or interest. We pay all of our bills in full and on time to avoid paying fees.
  • We are continually looking at ways to decrease our expenses, such as: bulk purchasing, energy efficient LED bulbs, timer controlled thermostats and many other money saving techniques.
  • We pay Cathedraticum on offertory and some income but not on Gifts or specific projects.

Charitable Giving Report

Our Parish gave $40,624.45 to Diocesan collections for different needs.

Our Parish gave $229,832.92 to the Annual Catholic Appeal.

Our Parish gave $4,918.25 to Local Groups.

Our Parish’s Pastor’s Fund distributed $38,246.52 to various groups (See Chart).

That is a total of $313,622.14 in charitable contributions.

Thank you for your generosity. Your contributions make a difference.

Starting Balance: / $ 10,682.09
Income
Gifts / $ 38,146.72
$ 48,828.81
Expenses
Bill Assistance / $ 2,299.91
Scholarships / $ 7,000.00
WI-ACT / $ 4,000.00
St. Catherine Center / $ 500.00
NCPD / $ 1,000.00
Catholic Charities / $ 5,000.00
Burial Assistance / $ 3,000.00
ABC of Wilton / $ 500.00
Christmas Assistance / $ 4,857.25
Vincentian Congregation / $ 1,000.00
Wilton Interfaith / $ 2,500.00
DW Ministries / $ 1,550.00
Family Fire Assistance / $ 2,864.36
Gift Cards/Stop Shop/Gas / $ 525.00
Individual Family Requests / $ 1,650.00
$ 38,246.52
Net Income / $ 10,582.29

This account is funded by donations, donations to the Parish (weddings, funerals, baptisms). We will have a special collection in November to help raise funds.

  • A generous parishioner donated cabinets and countertop for our parish center. Thank you. It will enhance the space.
  • Our coffee bar is free and open to everyone. Please stop by and have a cup of coffee.
  • Our Junior Ushers and Greeters have begun. Stay tuned for more youth opportunities.
  • Our parish is business friendly – we have a small computer lab (6 units) and two meetings spaces that can be made available to our Parish Family. Cost = free will offering.
  • Our parish has a Funeral Luncheon Ministry to help families plan for receptions in our Parish Center.
  • You can go to our website ( and use our Funeral Planning guide to help you select readings and music for a funeral (look under the faith tab).
  • We are updating our Social Media listings. The Our Lady of Fatima and Diocese of Bridgeport Aps are running and shortly we will have a Facebook and Twitter account. Stay tuned.
  • Upcoming Events
  • 9/9/16 Parish Welcome Back Social for Adults.
  • 9/12/16 Trip to 9/11 Memorial in New York
  • 9/17/16 Matthew Kelly – Sold Out!!!
  • 9/20/16 Senior Fair to explore Senior Issues
  • 9/28/16 – Parish Listening Session on ways we can improve our Parish
  • 10/15-16/16 – Fr. Brian Mullady – Parish Mission
  • 11/9/16 – Confirmation
  • 11/24/16 Blessing of Thanksgiving Food
  • 12/3/16 – Christmas Tree Lighting
  • 12/14/16 – Communal Penance Service