The writing on the wall for your parish may be coming into better focus as we enter the new calendar year. And it shouldn’t take an Old Testament prophet to interpret it. “Expect to pay more next year.” That’s what vendors are telling one parish with which I’m familiar. How much more? Some of the price increases seem to be about 12%. Recent news reports tell us that the consumer price index has increased nearly 7% this year. Many businesses across all industries struggle to find and keep competent people. This means they will incur higher costs in order to compete in the war for talent. These firms will pass on those costs, and other increases in their costs, to their customers and clients–including your parish.
Costs Are Increasing
So, would a 12% increase from some suppliers really be a concern for your parish? Would that be the writing on the wall indicating future financial failure? How much of the expense budget do they comprise? Even if they don’t make up a majority of the costs to run your parish, there will be other cost increases. Pretty much all the costs of carrying out your parish mission will increase—and some will increase dramatically. Consider energy costs, for example. Natural gas prices have increased by more than 40% over last year at this time. Your mileage reimbursements paid out for travel on parish business will cost you more in 2022. Office supplies will cost you more. And that’s not the half of it.
Inflation Will Affect the Offertory
Inflation, the “hidden tax,” is taking a bite out of your parishioners’ wallets as well. Average gasoline prices have increased nearly 50% over last year. The cost of groceries has risen 6% this year alone. Health care expenditures, from insurance premiums to out-of-pocket costs, continue to rise. At some point, these and other cost increases will adversely affect contributions to the parish. Parishes located in less affluent areas likely are feeling the pinch even now. In other locales, perhaps the worst is yet to come.
The Writing on the Wall: A Fiscal Double Whammy
Consider the Pillar survey that showed, on average, a drop in parish receipts of 12% as a result of the pandemic. That’s bad enough in and of itself. It can be even worse for a parish in an economically disadvantaged area.
The inflation we’re seeing most likely will hurt members in poorer parishes in a disproportionate way. They’ll struggle more to pay for food, housing, gas, and other essentials. They’ll have less if any, cushion between their basic living costs and their net paychecks. At some point, they will cut back on what they contribute at church if they haven’t already. This will create even worse fiscal challenges for their parishes. It’s wise, especially for parishes with pinched pocketbooks, to pay attention to this potential writing on the wall.
Your parish might be faced with a combination of both increased costs and decreased revenue—not a good situation. Say your parish has lost an average of 12% of its revenue from the pandemic. Then assume you might see overall increased costs of 6% this coming year. Now you’re looking at a potential combined shortfall approaching 18%. That’s real money, and it doesn’t take into account any further reduction in collections due to the impact of inflation on parishioners. Let’s assume your parishioners, feeling the pinch of inflation, cut back in their contributions to the tune of 2% to 4% of your top line. Now you’re looking at something in the neighborhood of a 20% gap to close. Maybe your parish will not be as hard hit as this hypothetical–or maybe it will experience worse conditions. Just do the math and guesstimate where you might end up under various scenarios.
Cutting Costs
How will you deal with the writing on the wall? Deeply slashing costs in most parishes probably won’t be possible. The parishes I’ve seen already run pretty lean in general, and in particular on staffing, so cutting staff may not be feasible. At some point, you begin to cut beyond the fat and start trimming out the muscle—not a prudent approach. Skimping on maintenance and repairs is a short-term band-aid. It only covers up a festering wound that will be even more costly in the future—also not a prudent approach.
However, establishing clear lines of responsibility, communication and accountability can help create a more efficient parish organization. Better efficiency can mean lower costs. And don’t fool yourself–you probably have some, maybe even many, inefficiencies in your operation. Some of these are exacerbated by a lack of accountability, from the top down. Don’t use the excuse that, “we’re not a business…” to avoid accountability. That’s a copout. Holding people accountable and being held accountable is part of living virtuously. This simply involves practicing the virtue of justice and exercising good stewardship.
There also could be some benefit in streamlining processes. Just doing things “the way we’ve always done it” isn’t a justifiable reason for avoiding process improvement. Regardless of what you set out to do, recognize that it can be difficult to manage. You may need to overcome a great deal of inertia to make any change. That’s because change is hard. And even with changes, the future may not bode well for some parishes where the chasm to breakeven is far too wide.
Practical Beginning Steps
What to do? Start by being realistic about what you must do in the coming months. Finding ways to balance the budget can require some creativity. Perhaps you have access to parishioners who can play a financially significant role in this. The use of more volunteers might help a bit. I say “a bit” because it can be even harder to hold parish volunteers accountable than employees. It may create even more inefficiency than you already have in place.
Volunteers may have the best intentions, but their skills may not be suitable for some tasks. On top of that, you may hesitate to provide them with feedback that helps them do the job better. After all, having someone to help, even if they aren’t really functional, is better than having no one, right? Wrong. And, if you have multiple volunteers assisting at different times with a particular task, you might never know who filed what document where. Some volunteers are a blessing. Some are a challenge. Just recognize the need to exercise the virtue of prudence and the gift of counsel here.
Pray, Hope, and Take Action
In the final analysis, we know that “…with God all things are possible.” (Mt 19:26) So keep on asking, seeking, and knocking in prayer for help and for insight.
We also know that God gives us an intellect and reasoning ability to use in all that we do for His greater glory and the fulfillment of our mission. So, do some analysis and some forward-thinking. Talk with others in your diocese or even contacts you may have outside your diocese to see what they’re doing. Ask them what’s working, and what’s not working, for them. Check with the accounting firm that does your parish’s annual review and see what advice they might provide you.
The circumstances at your parish may be such that none of this even remotely applies to you,if that’s the case, praise God. But if you believe the writing on the wall may apply to your parish, seek wise counsel. Be ready to make some hard decisions. If you thought that the last year or so was difficult, think about the possible combination of factors you might experience this coming year. Start now to proactively address the situation.
“‘Tomorrow!’ Sometimes it is prudence; very often it is the adverb of the defeated.” – St. Josemaría Escrivá
7 thoughts on “The Writing On the Wall And The Future of Your Parish”
While I do understand that parishes must pay attention to finance and be good stewards of their resources, if that becomes the focus of efforts, the parish may be heading for trouble. I would like to suggest that if the members of that parish, priests and laypeople, were to focus on the spiritual, especially a fervour for the sacraments and devout prayer, in short, serving Our Lord Jesus Christ, the finances may take dare of themselves.
Kevin, thanks for your comment on this post. While the post calls attention to current and potential conditions that may affect various parishes, and their need to address those conditions proactively, it doesn’t call for a focus solely on finance.
You are correct that parishes, (I might add, led by the priest(s)), need to focus on the spiritual life, developing fervor for sacraments, deep prayer, (and I’d add catechesis), and serving the Lord and one another. Lack of spiritual vigor may be one cause for the decline of parish life and vitality in general. That being said, as far as I know, every diocese requires parishes to submit budgets for their annual operations. Prudence would dictate a sound analysis and realistic action plans to deal with budgetary issues. With God, all things are possible, and God wants us to do our part.
Thank you for this illuminating article. The flip side is that we already have some areas flooded with volunteers (e.g., religious education), which call for FAR higher levels of competence.
There is a tendency to think that having lay people function as quasi clergy is the key to evangelization.
We need a much deeper appreciation of the primary roles of the laity and the clergy.
Joe, thanks for reading this post and for your comment. You are correct that our parishes have some areas where higher levels of competence among volunteers is called for–R. E. being a major one. At my current and previous couple of parishes where we’ve belonged, I think it’s been tough to get enough volunteers for R. E. to begin with. This may or may not be the case in other parishes. In any event, it’s not likely that they could afford to pay, even if they could find professionally trained catechists in sufficient number, people to carry on the R. E.
The larger the parish, the more the clergy have to depend on volunteers; I would agree that there needs be clarity about roles and responsibilities of both the laity and the clergy, and not just with respect to evangelization. Thanks again!
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My childhood parish had no employees. It was just the priest and his aunt who kept house for him. Collections amply covered the bills and obligations. And I vividly remember that many services were donated. The ladies and their daughters cleaned the church every month, the men and their sons did grounds maintenance and light construction projects, and guys with snowplows opened up the parking lots during the winter. It was a true community.
The parishes I attend now have no financial responsibility at all. They all have a paid staff could easily be slashed by half. I’ve never heard a request for volunteers. As a result, no one knows anyone.
I understand that more and more seniors are leaving all or part of their estates to their parishes. That will keep the ship afloat for another decade or two. After that, when attendance finally drops to near zero, things will get truly desperate. I’ll worry about it then.
Larry, thanks for your comment. I wonder if there aren’t fewer small parishes like the one you describe. We used to belong to a small parish of nominally about 40 families. We, the parishioners, did in fact clean the church, maintain the grounds, etc. But even there, major repairs to mechanical, structural, paved lot, etc., had to be hired out. As well, occupancy costs, the priest’s meager pay, and costs of catechism classes for the kids at the larger parish near us all had to be covered. This little parish where we were had no direct, paid staff. The larger parish of which it was a satellite had just a few to cover the bare bones admin and maintenance things required for a 600-family parish.
Each parish’s situation is different, and each will have its own blessings and problems. Thanks for your comment.