State of The Parish 2009

My Dear Parishioners,

Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever! As I am sure you know, for the past few years we have tried to increase communication and participation in important matters and decisions facing the parish. To this end, we have begun this column, blogs, increased the usability of our website and most importantly in my mind, had a series of “State of the Parish” potlucks throughout the summer months with a presentation and time for questions and input. We had our first of two potlucks on June 17th and had a good turn out. The amount of material presented was substantially less than in years past and so we mostly just had a good time! The second one will be August 12th at 6:00 p.m. I hope you will be able to join us. For those of you who are not able to attend either event, I am publishing a summary of its content this week and next.

A Year In Review

This past year has been truly eventful. In September, we began our 100th year of Catholic Campus ministry at the University of Colorado and celebrated with two primary events: an open-air Mass on Norlin Quadrangle and the January debate between Dinesh D’Souza and Christopher Hitchens. Both events drew crowds of over 2000. October saw a substantial updating and renewal of the church with the addition of kneelers and a new tabernacle. These changes have added substantially to an atmosphere of prayer and a renewed focus on Christ in our midst. In addition to these “big” events, there are so many day-to-day events that are so rich and beautiful that make me so proud to be the pastor of such an excellent parish with truly fine and holy people. I am especially pleased with the excellent staff we have here at St. Thomas. The Religious Education, Sacramental Preparation, Music Ministry and Youth Ministry programs continue to flourish and indeed are growing. Thank you to Patty, Myrna, Judy and the Parish Council!

Campus ministry, the focus of our mission, is flourishing and growing as well both in quantity of students and the quality of ministry. The amount of student participation in Sunday Mass, FOCUS Bible Studies and leadership training, Buffalo Awakening, theological education, outreach on campus, Eucharistic Adoration, Daily Mass and Confession have all increased this year. We have also continued to refine our approach and expand our options so as to reach more students with different “tastes” and needs. A huge thank you to Father Peter, Matt Boettger, Kelsey Wicks, Hilary Rowe and the FOCUS team, Megan Dillon and Margaret Stortz for all of their hard work and creativity.

Our parish, both students and families, is growing and is on much firmer financial footing than in recent years past. Although these are not the only indicators, three of the biggest are the Sunday Mass attendance, the offertory collection and our efforts at developing relationships with alumni, parents and friends of our ministry asking them to contribute to the mission. Here is a brief look at the numbers:

Sunday Mass Average 2007: 950 (Oct); 2008: 1120(Oct); 2009: 1190(Mar)
Offertory Collection 2007: $ 643,700; 2008: $ 664,000; 2009: $ 688,000(est)
Advancement Income: 2007: $ 0; 2008: $ 165,000; 2009: $ 345,000(est)

I am giving these numbers in order to thank you for your generosity and commitment to the Lord Jesus, Sunday Mass and the ministry of this parish. This parish is entirely dependent upon you and you have shown your love. I would especially like to thank all of you who, despite the difficult economic conditions, have committed to weekly electronic giving or been consistent in your offertory contribution as the basket passes and those who were extraordinarily generous during the “matching gift collection” in March. It is due to these factors, especially the matching gift collection, that we are ahead of our budget projections for the offertory for this year. A final financial report for Fiscal Year 2009 will be given to the parish in September. Last year we ended positive after many years “in the red”, we are hoping for the same this year. A special thank you to Terry Shroba, our office manager, Phil Perez our business manager, our Finance Council (Steve King, Betty Valent, Don and Rose Boselli and Dennis Maloney), Megan Dillon, our director of development and the Monday morning money counters.

Many Partings

As I mentioned above in several places, we have been blessed with an extraordinary staff, deeply committed to the intellectual, spiritual, social and apostolic excellence of our ministry to the University of Colorado and broader Boulder community. While staff turnover is quite normal especially in university ministry, we have also been blessed with staff longevity. But this summer, we are saying goodbye to three wonderful staff members. The longest serving is, of course, Myrna Deemy who has retired after 19 years of excellent service. I am so grateful for her and her ministry among us. We miss her already and are currently looking for a replacement. This has proven quite difficult as she combines so many disparate talents and gifts. As of this writing, I have offered the position to someone, please pray that he accepts! If he doesn’t, we will continue to interview until we find the right person for our parish.

As you probably know, Kelsey Wicks, who has worked in campus ministry for two years, has discerned a call from God to enter the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecelia in Nashville, Tennessee. We will greatly miss her and her smile, but are proud to send her forth to such a noble calling. We have hired a successor for Kelsey’s job: Bob Siemens who will join us in August from Sioux Falls, SD along with his wife and five children. I can’t wait for you all to meet this wonderful man and his family.

Margaret Stortz has worked as the office manager at the student center for the past year. She recently decided to pursue missionary work with the Salesians in Bolivia. I suppose if we are to lose staff members, losing them to the convent and missionary work is the best way! I am grateful for Margaret and her time among us. You will see an advertisement for this position in the Denver Catholic Register throughout the month of July and we hope to have someone in place before the beginning of the school year.

Hopes for the Future

One of the reasons my presentation at the potluck was shorter than in years past is because there are no “grand” plans for the coming year. We plan to focus on the continue growth and refinement of our current ministries. With that being said, there are two major issues that I hope we can continue discussing and hopefully come to some resolutions by next summer.

As you may know, in April we began a discussion on the future of the food bank, its potentialities and facilities. As a result of that potluck, we have established a “task force” to evaluate this ministry, the facilities and all the possible options for the future. I am very pleased with the results so far and hope to update you as soon as there is anything concrete to report. Thank you to all the members of the task force (Agnes Stupp, Judy Cardell, Mike Freece, Patty Quinn, Dennis Creese, Pat Coates and Karen Harrison).

Finally, we have been discussing our current facilities and their many needs for years. I have placed that discussion on the back-burner for three years now. I am hoping to re-open the discussion at some point this year. Please do some dreaming and come up with some ideas!

I am blessed to be the pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas. Thank you very much for your continued support, love and prayers. Please know that I keep you in my daily prayers and long for all of us to reach our full happiness and potential, holiness in Jesus Christ. With prayers and blessings, I remain

Your brother in Christ,

Father Kevin Augustyn