Crossroads Challenge - St. Christopher Catholic Parish

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Crossroads Challenge

A Critical Time in the History of Our Parish

3/26/06

St. Christopher’s Pastoral Council has long recognized a need to plan for the future. Over the years there have been several attempts at making projections or setting goals for the parish, but a formal plan was never finalized and implemented. Because of the rapidly changing environment in the larger Catholic Church, the implementation of Pastoral Regions, and the ever growing level of parish debt, St. Christopher’s Pastoral Council pushed ahead to formally establish a Strategic Planning Committee. This Committee consists of nine carefully selected Parish members who are committed to laying out a roadmap for the future of St. Christopher Parish. In the coming weeks we will have a series of articles that introduce the committee and describe the process that they are following. As a parishioner, you too have an important role to play in this endeavor. If at any time you have specific comments or suggestions, please contact Mark Lonneman, who serves as chairperson of this process. Your contribution to the discussion is welcomed and appreciated.

DID YOU KNOW…..

…that the money that St. Christopher borrowed to build the church and Emmaus Center is actually from the reserve funds (savings) of other parishes rather than from the general fund of the Archdiocese? The accumulated interest that we owe is owed to our fellow parishes and represents the interest that they earn on their savings.

4/9/06

Members of the Strategic Planning Committee were carefully selected by St. Christopher’s Pastoral Council for their level of knowledge and involvement in the parish, along with their significant experience in the field of planning. The members of this committee are Bud Zupp, Dave Bills, Joan Dunn, Randy Weddle, Lisa Trentman, John Krug, Jacquie Nawroth, Don Hoendorf, and Mark Lonneman. Fr. Frank and Deacon Steve also participated in steering the discussions. Mark Lonneman has generously accepted the responsibility of chairing this endeavor, with Randy Weddle serving as his assistant chairperson. Bill Matthews, from Aileron, the Center for Entrepreneurial Education sponsored by the Mathile Foundation, facilitated the initiation of the planning process. The cost of Bill Matthew’s services were covered by a much appreciated donation from BASIC Vitamins (courtesy of the Fischer Family.) A S.W.O.T. format (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) was used to develop a survey distributed to 112 parishioners last December. This past January a daylong workshop served to synthesize the response from these surveys into parish priorities for the future. In coming weeks the responses from these surveys and corresponding conclusions will be discussed in this column.

This column will be updated in two week intervals. If you wish to read prior columns, please check out our parish website. As always, any member of this committee would welcome any comments you might have.

DID YOU KNOW…..

…that St. Christopher Parish is mandated by the Archbishop to provide the CATHOLIC TELEGRAPH to at least fifty percent of parish households? This costs the parish in excess of $14,000 per year, and if parishioners do not reimburse the parish for the cost of the subscription, the parish must pay it on their behalf.

4/23/06

The day-long strategic planning workshop was held on January 21, 2006. The first task of the day involved a thorough review of survey findings. Frankly, the response level did not meet our expectations – only 36 responses were received from 112 survey requests. But because the survey was sent to a broad range of parishioners, from young to old and from very active to those who have left the parish, the group felt that the responses gave a broad perspective on the pulse of the parish. One set of surveys dealt with the school. The second survey assessed the general parish. During the strategic planning workshop, however, discussions only focused on the parish due to time constraints. In our next column we will explore survey responses to specific questions.

DID YOU KNOW…..

…. that during the coming year the parish anticipates spending almost $300,000 in support of the school and almost $100,000 in support of GIFT and youth ministry activites out of $980,000 in general parish income?

5/7/06

Before examining the specific strengths and weaknesses of St. Christopher’s community, the Strategic Planning Committee asked parishioners what they consider the most significant outside forces that will have an impact on the future of the parish. These responses represent factors that are outside of the parish’s control, but must be considered because of the meaningful effect on the community. The shortage of priests was the most obvious response that topped the list. Another key reply centered around competition for people’s time, attention and money, not only from other churches but also other activities such as sports, etc. Competition is particularly reflected in the changing priorities for disposable income that have affected parish funding. Negative public perception of the Catholic Church, fueled by the media, will continue to impact St. Christopher’s community. The financial difficulties of the Archdiocese will also have a serious impact on the parish, particularly in light of the level of parish debt. Other factors listed included changing demographics, a changing economy, a continually improving public school system, and evolving expectations for parish services from the “entitlement generation.” All of these areas will substantially affect the way the parish is managed in the future.

DID YOU KNOW…..

…about the many faith formation opportunities that we have available for our younger children? St. Christopher offers an excellent elementary school, an outstanding GIFT (Growing in Faith Together) catechetical program for grades 1 through 6, a wonderful faith-based Child Care Center (with school aftercare available), a Sunday Morning Early Childhood Program, Children’s Liturgy of the Word during 9:00am mass, AND Vacation Bible School every summer. We truly have something for everyone!

5/21/06

After examining the environmental factors that will affect the future of St. Christopher but are outside of its control, parishioners were asked to list the best and the worst about their parish. The visible, accessible location and attractive, updated campus topped the list. Parishioners with extensive experience and capabilities and a strong giving nature also received strong mention. A committed, caring staff, strong liturgical experience, and the school made list as notable parish assets. Among the areas needing improvement, communication was a clear weak spot. The most prevalent response, however, centered around the lack of parishioner enthusiasm and involvement. There is little perceived sense of ownership, and a general desire for more “excitement” about the parish mission. Minimal enthusiasm is also evidenced by the percentage of parishioners who attend Sunday masses. These assets and challenges provide a clear direction for future planning.

DID YOU KNOW…

…that St. Christopher Parish, at several points in its history, made the decision to build with loans rather than collected money in order to cope with extreme growth rates? For example, in the early 1990s the school was turning away entire classes of parishioner children because it could only accommodate one class per grade. If the new worship center had not been constructed, Sunday masses could not hold more than 400 people. The parish would look very different today if the decision to borrow had not been made.

June 4, 2006

The final component of the St. Christopher Parish strategic planning survey asked parishioners what they viewed as the three greatest opportunities for St. Christopher in the future, and conversely, the three areas that most urgently needed to be changed. It came as no surprise that these two lines of inquiry produced a very similar list of responses, showing that our greatest challenges present us with our greatest opportunities. On the top of the list is a call to make the school financially self-supporting. In conjunction with the need for financial stability is the hope to make Catholic education accessible to all who desire a Catholic education for their children. Secondly, the re-structuring of the total parish organization and culture to deal with the coming shortage of priests is a dominant issue. This requires more parishioner activism, more formal vocations (deacons) from within the parish, restructuring staff alignments, and a continuation of planning with our partner parish. Stemming from this need is a strong call for improved parish communications, and parish ministries that align with changing parishioner needs. The dreams for St. Christopher provided in these responses clarify where parish leaders need to focus their attention in the future.

DID YOU KNOW….

…that the parish is charged 7% interest annually on a current debt of $1,588,028? Because St. Christopher does not receive enough contributions to cover the interest payments, our current accumulated unpaid interest is $344,712 – and growing!

June 18, 2006

After reviewing the wealth of information received from the St. Christopher Strategic Planning Survey, the Strategic Planning Committee assimilated the input into action priorities for the parish. The vast majority of the responses fell into three categories. Parish involvement capsulated many of the needs and concerns. This particular area will address the need to stimulate passion and enthusiasm for becoming more active in the parish. Some specific points are improved communication methods, a more organized system for recruiting and managing volunteers, and updating parish programming to meet the changing needs of all the demographic groups. Randy Weddle volunteered to recruit and lead a group of parishioners to convert these concepts into a five-year action plan. In the next segment we will discuss the need to realign the parish infrastructure in anticipation of sharing a pastor in the future.

DID YOU KNOW…

…that our parish was created by carving out a portion of St. John the Baptist Parish, St. Rita of Cascia Parish, and Queen of Martyrs Parish? The three parishes sat down with officials from the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in 1956 and came to an agreement on St. Christopher’s Parish boundaries, which are Little York Road, the Stillwater River, the Miami River, and the Montgomery County line.

July 2, 2006

The strategic planning survey responses clearly expressed an awareness that the priest shortage will significantly impact parish life in the future. Because it is an inevitability that St. Christopher Parish will be sharing a pastor with St. John the Baptist Parish, it is a priority that the staffing model at St. Christopher be adjusted to accommodate life without a full-time pastor. Unfortunately this will be expensive, and the parish is already in a position where it is unable to fully service its debt. Before staff re-structuring is accomplished, it will be necessary to unburden St. Christopher from its debt. At that point the strategic planning group is looking into a recommendation for hiring a parish director of development and administration to run day-to-day operations. This suggestion closely aligns with the directive from the pastoral region planning group for hiring a parish administrator. There is much work yet to be done, but also much hope for a bright future.

DID YOU KNOW…

… that Fr. Frank, Elise Wahle, and Tim Barney have been meeting regularly for the last six months with a team from St. John the Baptist to decide how our two parishes can best coordinate ourselves as a pastoral region?

July 23, 2006

The final piece of the strategic planning process is the development of a long-term plan for the school. From survey input received from all factions of the parish, it is evident that St. Christopher School is a primary component of parish ministry. There are several indicators, however, that point to potential future challenges. One of the most evident indicators revolves around long term decline in the number of Catholic School students. The significant drop in long-term demand for Catholic education needs to be addressed by St. Christopher School through analyzing how we can better meet the needs of our “market,” (i.e., Catholic school children and their families.) Two primary focus areas are affordability and quality control.

The second key indicator of potential future challenge for the school is the financial state of the parish. Due to the very rapid growth of the parish through the past fifty years, St. Christopher Parish has been placed in the position of borrowing money to build facilities to accommodate larger numbers of parishioners. At this time St. Christopher has a beautiful campus, but a debt that the parish can’t sustain. The parish can’t even fully service the interest on the loans. As the accumulated unpaid interest grows, the mounting debt will eventually choke out parish ministries. Because the school is the largest ministry, it stands to be affected most by the budget crisis. Planning will focus on debt reduction and creating a more effective process for managing the school budget as it relates to the parish budget.

DID YOU KNOW....

...that the fiscal year ended on June 30^th for St. Christopher Parish and School? You can soon look forward to a full discussion of where our parish stands financially.

August 13, 2006

Over the past several months this column has laid out the origin, process, and initial conclusions of the strategic planning process for St. Christopher. (Did you miss any of the ongoing series of columns? If you did, they can all be reviewed on the parish website athome.catholicweb.com/christophervandalia.) Responsibility for each of the three priority issues were assumed by members of the Strategic Planning Committee. Randy Weddle formed a committee to look at an action plan to improve parish involvement. Don Hoendorf offered to develop strategies for coping with changing parish infrastructure needs. Mark Lonneman took on the very challenging task of forming a long term plan for school viability. Each of these groups came up with specific proposals for dealing with the needs at hand. Beginning next week we will explore some of the specific details.

DID YOU KNOW....

....that the number of parish families has increased by over 15% in the last 6 years? St. Christopher Parish now has over 1500 registered households.

August 27, 2006

The Involvement Plan Committee, led by Randy Weddle, consists of Steve Duckro, Tim Vanderhorst, Jean Maycheck and Rick Weddle. Key focus areas of their work includes an improvement plan for parish communication, a focus on updating parish programming to reflect the needs of all demographic groups, development of an “in-reach” committee to enhance the welcoming atmosphere of the parish, improvement of mass participation, and lastly, a total program for volunteer recruitment and management. This particular endeavor would include clear expectations for volunteers, attraction and retention efforts for volunteers, and a reward system for volunteers. Specific ideas, too numerous to itemize, were brainstormed for each of the areas. The next phase in this process is establishing priorities for each of these tasks and setting a timeline for completion. Most importantly, each task will have an individual assigned who will be responsible for completing their project. The strategic planning group is responsible for monitoring progress and periodically updating the plan. In the next edition of CROSSROADS OF ST. CHRISTOPHER we will focus on the plans for updating the parish infrastructure.

DID YOU KNOW...

....that due to careful budget management (and a lack of any surprise misfortunes) the parish was able to pay $94,000 against the parish debt last year? The accumulated unpaid interest, however, increased by $103,749 to $362,232.

September 10, 2006

Don Hoendorf led the study of the future staffing needs of St. Christopher. The main factor that will impact the needs of the parish is the plan to share a pastor with St. John the Baptist. A definite time frame for this transition has not been scheduled, but the reality of this change is certain. Because the pastor’s attention will necessarily be divided between two communities when this occurs, a strong need will arise to restructure parish management to deal with day-to-day issues. Don has researched other parish structures, and recommended that the parish consider establishing the position of Director of Development and Administration. While this position is far from being clearly defined, in a general sense it would involve general parish management and an emphasis on parish development. No specific plan has yet been proposed, but the general concept had a very positive reception at Pastoral Council. You will be informed as planning progresses.

DID YOU KNOW....

...that St. Christopher Parish has only had three pastors in its 49 year history?

September 24, 2006

If you missed the Town Hall meetings conducted on 9/17 and 9/19 the entire concept of “the Crossroads of St. Christopher” may be unclear to you. The St. Christopher community is at a pivotal point in its history. Although the parish has experienced enormous growth over the last fifty years (including the last five years), it has been a financial struggle to keep up with the exploding ministry demands. Borrowing has been an unpleasant necessity to provide facilities of sufficient size to accommodate the ever-increasing number of parishioners. At this time we have a beautiful campus and income to support our ministries, but we are substantially underpaying on the parish loan. At the Town Hall meeting it was graphically illustrated how the debt is growing each month, and at the current rate the loan would increase to $3.28 million in ten years! As you have been reading in past columns, the parish has undertaken a strategic planning process to move the parish forward in a positive direction. The second solution for alleviating the debt burden comes from a challenge presented to the parish from an anonymous donor. This donor has made a matching donation pledge, committing to donate $1 for every dollar we can raise as a parish to retire the debt. This is a rare and unique opportunity for the parish to eliminate the debt at a 50% discount! You will hear much more about this Crossroads Challenge in the coming months, so please look for more details to follow.

October 8, 2006

In the last installment of “Crossroads of St. Christopher” the CROSSROADS CHALLENGE was introduced. CROSSROADS CHALLENGE is a movement within St. Christopher Parish to meet the challenge presented by an anonymous donor to eliminate parish debt. Our parish must raise $1,000,000 to meet the $1,000,000 matching donation and place the parish in a position of strength for dealing with the many changes we face as a community. In an initial step to address this challenge St. Christopher Parish formed a Crossroads Steering Committee to give direction to the process. Members of this committee include Rory Dahlinghaus and Todd Imwalle (both fund-raising professionals from the University of Dayton,) Ken Monnin (a long-term parishioner and a past leader in many campaigns,) Stacey Hodkey (a marketing professional with the ATA,) Kevin Grooms (a financial advisor with Ameriprise,) and Nichelle Eilerman (a past fund-raising event coordinator with United Rehabilitation Services.) Mary Lauterbach has been hired by St. Christopher Parish in a temporary position to administrate this endeavor. The committee looks forward to your total support in meeting this formidable challenge. As a united community we can achieve this goal and further our hope of fulfilling God’s Kingdom in the Vandalia community.

DID YOU KNOW....

...that last year St. Christopher celebrated 66 baptisms, 75 confirmation anointings, and 17 marriages?

October 22, 2006

In order to help you become more familiar with the CROSSROADS CHALLENGE, we will begin to answer some of the most common questions we have heard. One suggestion heard is that perhaps we could cut back on our current operations to repay our parish debt. The problem is that the parish currently operates with a very minimal staff and an inadequate capital budget ($5,000 per year for major repairs and improvements.) Aside from facility costs and personnel costs, participants in individual programs pay for most material costs. Any additional cutbacks would substantially harm the parish's ability to serve its people. Please read this column again next week to find out, "How can we be sure that we won't end up in this position again?"

DID YOU KNOW....

... that as of October we are running 4.1% behind last year in our Sunday contributions?

November 5, 2006

Many people have asked, "How can we be sure that we won't end up being in a position of carrying debt we can't repay again?" While there are no guarantees for the future, the Pastoral Council is actively pursuing a positive answer to this concern. Specific policies are now being considered by Pastoral Council to assure that before our community borrows money again, stringent standards are in place to evaluate the parish's ability to repay the debt. These standards would be over and above what the Archdiocese of Cincinnati requires. Because St. Christopher Parish has facilities that are sufficient for its needs, there is no urgent need for construction (thus no anticipated need to borrow.) If the occasion should ever arise that would necessitate borrowing, however, you can be sure that it would be thoroughly evaluated. Aside from debt policies, Pastoral Council is also reviewing a five-year strategic plan for the parish, allowing us to grow in a more orderly fashion rather than operating from year-to-year. A finalized strategic plan will be available for your comments after the final review by Pastoral Council is complete.

DID YOU KNOW....

...that as of July 1, 2006 Fr. Frank committed to devote an additional six years of his ministry to being pastor of our parish? Please remember to express your gratitude to Fr. Frank for his devotion to our community.

November 19, 2006

Some parishioners have wondered by we are unable to repay our debt out of our regular income. Couldn't we just cut back on part of our operation to repay our obligations? As it stands right now, our parish operates on a very minimal staff and an inadequate capital budget ($5,000 per year for major repairs and improvements.) Aside from facility and personnel costs, participants in individual programs pay for most materials costs. Any additional cutbacks in the parish budget would substantially harm the parish's ability to serve its people. For the last several years $3,000 per month has been paid on the loan. The problem lies in the fact that the interest alone on our debt is $9,000 per month! The Crossroads Campaign will address this looming crisis directly by approaching every parish household to make a three year pledge for debt repayment. A generous matching donor will match your pledge against the debt dollar-for dollar. The campaign is in its initial stage right now, but the general parish campaign will begin in January. If you have questions, please call Mary Lauterbach at 830-2325.

DID YOU KNOW....

...that as of July 1, 2006 Fr. Frank committed to devote an additional six years of his ministry to being pastor of our parish?

December 10, 2006

A comment that has been made more than once asks, "Why do we have to pay back the Archdiocese? They won't do anything to us to make us pay." The most obvious answer is that St. Christopher has a moral obligation to repay its debt. The money the parish borrowed is actually from a special reserve fund managed by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. The money in this fund represents the savings of other parishes, and these parishes receive the interest we pay on our loan. If we default on the loan, we default against sister parishes. Although the Archdiocese probably would not shut us down if we do not honor our written promise to repay the loan, St. Christopher would be breaking its word and setting a very poor example for our children. Also, if we would ever be in a position where we need special assistance (such as a fire,) our request for help might be compromised if we fail to honor our commitments.

The good news is that St. Christopher is off and running in its mission to repay the debt through THE CROSSROADS CHALLENGE. Although the general campaign does not officially begin until the end of January 2007, some early donors have already come forward and pledged in excess of $100,000! If you would like to begin your pledge in 2006, please contact Mary Lauterbach at 830-2325 for more information.

DID YOU KNOW....

...that the Precious Blood community has been providing our school with teachers and principals for almost fifty years? Please remember them as you consider your response to the Retirement Fund for the Religious.

December 24, 2006

The Crossroads Challenge is beginning to build up some steam! Although the general campaign will not be launched until January 27, 2007, the parish has already begun to respond with great enthusiasm. As you will recall, an anonymous donor has come forward and challenged the parish with a $1 million matching donation offer. The proceeds will be directed towards eliminating St. Christopher's debt. Any additional funds raised would be placed in a Capital Improvement Account to address future parish needs. What a wonderful 50th anniversary gift for the future of St. Christopher Parish!