Stewardship

By supporting St. Mary Faith Community, you support all of its ministries and our entire community.

Mortgage Balance Update

9/2008	$4,107,466
1/2008	$4,255,760
8/2007	$4,337,206
4/2007	$4,410,441
3/2007	$4,425,998
10/2006	$4,531,553
9/2006	$4,546,382

Listen to Steve Borkenhagen's presentation that he gave on Nov. 18, 2007

Why did we need to expand in the first place?

Whether we chose to enhance our facilities or not, our faith community was and is growing rapidly. Our facilities could no longer sustain our community. We could not adequately accommodate the growing numbers who came to share in the Mass each week. There was not sufficient meeting and gathering space for existing programs, classes, activities and ministries. The mechanical systems in our school and church were inefficient and worn out.

Significant and costly repairs could have updated the mechanical systems, but there simply was no other way to accommodate our growing space needs. That is why the community supported building a new worship space and gathering spaces and renovating existing facilities in the old church and school to prepare us for the next generation of our faith community.

I gave to the building and/or debt reduction appeals. I thought responding to those requests would mean we wouldn't have a mortgage.

In order to begin the expansion, the archdiocese required the community of St. Mary's to demonstrate support for the project and the ability to sustain it by committing half the anticipated cost of construction and renovation. Your pledges and gifts to the building appeal helped get the project off the ground and secure the necessary backing and financing to undertake the expansion.

We had hoped that the debt reduction appeal held in 2004 would allow us to make a significant pay down of our mortgage principal balance, but results were less than expected. As a result, the collections from that campaign were just sufficient for us to make our monthly mortgage payments over the last three years.

How did we arrive at a mortgage balance of $4.4 million? It seems large.

Not unlike building a home, it was difficult to fully anticipate all the costs that were ultimately incurred. Our preliminary budget in 2001 for land acquisition and construction cost was for $6.7 million. However, final construction costs exceeded this figure. This occurred for two key reasons, both attempting to take advantage of an extremely favorable interest rate environment.

First of all, better building materials were used in certain areas than proposed in the draft design, as this would give us the best value over the many decades of the building's useful life. Secondly, a decision was made not to defer certain construction elements as originally planned, but rather build them now. For example, construction of the bell tower, and building out the new cafeteria were items that we originally planned to finish at some point down the road.

In addition to land acquisition and construction costs, we also incurred and financed legal, title and fund-raising costs, as well as interest on our construction loan.

Finally, the response to our 2004 fund raising campaign was less than expected. As a result, a planned extra pay down of mortgage principal above and beyond our normal monthly payments did not occur at that time.

There are so many requests for support from the parish, the school and the various ministries. I'd give more on a regular basis, but there's always another request on the way.

The Parish Council recognizes the need to better coordinate requests for support. Council members are studying the problem and hope to discern a way to coordinate and consolidate requests. The fact is that there are many worthy ministries and programs in a vibrant and active community such as St. Mary's. It may not be feasible or appropriate to prevent school and parish groups from asking for support when it is needed. Members should give support where their hearts and the Spirit lead them.

However, giving monthly to support operating and mortgage expenses benefits every group, program and ministry of St. Mary's and all the people served by each. Without St. Mary's providing a "home base" and infrastructure, the various ministries, programs, groups and activities would not operate so effectively.