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Millennium Campaign benefits pilot parishes
By Michelle Martin
STAFF WRITER
When Divine Word Father William Hegarty heard about the Archdiocese
of Chicago’s planned Millennium Campaign to help parishes raise
money, he couldn’t wait for the planned kick-off in 2001.
His small parish, St. Anselm on the city’s South Side, had too
many immediate needs.
The chimney was about to fall down, the church needed tuck pointing
and painting and the roof needed repairs. And that didn’t even
consider all the things parishioners are doing to try to build
up the community, Hegarty said.
With the help of consultants hired by the archdiocese, St. Anselm
set an ambitious fund-raising pledge goal of $150,000, nearly
twice its usual annual income of $84,318. Hegarty said he wasn’t
sure his 250 registered families would be able to meet the goal,
especially since they live in an economically depressed area.
The response was gratifying: St. Anselm parishioners exceeded
their goal by 20 percent, pledging a total of more than $180,000.
“I was very surprised,” Hegarty said. “I just couldn’t believe
the support. It was a great sign of the will of the people and
the spirit of the people.”
Ray Coughlin, newly named director of stewardship and development
for the archdiocese, looks at the results at St. Anselm as a benchmark
and hopes the rest of the parishes can copy the success of St.
Anselm and a handful of other parishes when the archdiocese rolls
out its Millennium Campaign next year.
“Catholics are as generous as people in other denominations,”
Coughlin said. “They just don’t get asked as often.”
Thirty-three parishes, including St. Anselm, are serving as pilots
for the archdiocese-wide fund-raising campaign next year. They
all asked to begin early because their needs were too pressing
to wait, Coughlin said.
So far, six of the seven parishes who have finished the pledge
drive have exceeded their goals, Coughlin said.
In addition to St. Anselm, other parishes that have done well
are:
¥Old St. Mary, where parishioners pledged $1.6 million, beating
a goal of $1.5 million. The parish’s regular annual income is
$315,658. The parish will put its share of the money toward building
a new church.
¥St. Teresa of Avila, where parishioners pledged $844,000 to surpass
a goal of $500,000. More than 60 percent of the registered families
are participating. St. Teresa has an ordinary annual income of
$289,818.
¥Assumption (California Avenue), where parishioners pledged $245,000,
more than its goal of $184,000, which was equal to the parish’s
ordinary income.
The effort comes at the same time the archdiocese is trying to
foster a spirit of stewardship, or an understanding that Catholics
must share the gifts God gave them with the church, in the form
of financial contributions or donations of their time or talents.
The way the campaign works is for each parish to ask its parishioners
to pledge a certain amount of money over the next three years,
in addition to their normal contribution. Most of that money should
be earmarked for specific needs within the parish.
Resource Services Inc., a consulting firm hired by the archdiocese,
helps the parishes determine the needs, set the financial goals
and recruit leadership for the campaign. The archdiocese also
will bear all the printing costs and other administrative expenses.
In return, the archdiocese asks each parish to set a fund-raising
goal at least equal to their ordinary annual income. The archdiocese
also has asked each parish to give a portion of what it raises,
equal to 20 percent of their ordinary annual income, to fulfill
archdiocese-wide needs, such as repairs at Mundelein Seminary
or a new residence for retired priests to be built in Lemont,
Coughlin said.
In the case of St. Anselm, the donation to the archdiocese would
be about $17,000, or 20 percent of the parish’s annual ordinary
income, but less than 10 percent of what has been pledged. The
rest of money will be available to repair parish buildings and
support parish ministries like Project Hope, a food program, and
an after-school program for children from the neighborhood.
Hegarty said he thinks people were willing to pledge because the
needs were staring them in the face.
“We needed urgent work on the church, and that was clear to the
people,” he said. In fact, the church needed repairs so badly
that some had to be done before the campaign was finished, Hegarty
said, and the money raised by the campaign will not cover all
of the other necessary work.
Also, the money has just been pledged. The parishioners have three
years to pay.
But Coughlin said that Catholics generally pay 95 to 97 percent
of the money they pledge to religious causes, so most of the money
should be collected.
“A lot of pastors are reluctant to ask their people for money,
because they see their people as struggling from paycheck to paycheck,”
he said. “Then they are surprised and very gratified when they
see the results.”
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