How about some good news that happened in 2021?
Everyone over New Year’s was talking about how they were glad to see 2021 go. Many called it 2020, Part 2. And certainly, there were a lot of tough things that happened.
However…
- I got to play on two of the best golf courses in the United States: Whistling Straits and Crystal Downs. It was good to get away for an extended vacation this year, playing golf with my buds, getting
- We have continued “in person” schooling here at Holy with both our day school and PSR students. Although the next few weeks may be a bit rocky (OMICRON!!), I could not be prouder of our educational leadership and our faculties. Isolation and distance learning are not healthy for our
- Finally, as you all know, our parish was the beneficiary of the will of Marcia Carrigan. Some people have asked for a full accounting of that gift. Well, here you go:
The gift was in three parts, one for the parish, one for the school and one for our St. Vincent de Paul Society.
The Vincent de Paul Society got three separate distributions, one for $400,000, one for $140,000 and a final one for $4,397.09. If I did my math correctly, that ends up with a total of $544,397.09. Because our chapter must follow the rules of the Vincent de Paul Society, we have decided to give this money to them over a period of several years. Nevertheless, these funds are held in a separate account and they are not part of the Assessment of the Archdiocese. (In other words they are not taxed as donation to our parish.)
Holy Redeemer School got the same distribution as the St. Vincent de Paul Society: one for $400,000, one for $140,000 and a final one for $4,397.09 for a total of $544,397.09.
This donation is included in the Assessment. We have taken the money given to the school and put it into the current endowment. We have subsequently changed this endowment to being only for education. We have not taken any distribution out of this endowment since its inception. At present (depending on the markets) we have approximately $1.3 million in that endowment. I foresee this strictly for educational purposes for our day school, our PSR and for adult education. The Finance Council will oversee this endowment. I have already talked to our faculty about using a distribution from this endowment for their classrooms or for continuing education. Depending on needs, we will be taking our first distribution from this endowment in this new year.
Finally, the parish received three distributions: $4.4 million, $1.54 million and $48,368.02, for a total of $5,988,368.02. (As I said, 2021 wasn’t all bad.) Part of this we have set aside to pay for our Archdiocesan Assessment (which obviously will be a bit more this year). I have already taken $5 million and set up a new endowment for the parish. (More may be added at a later date.) This endowment, likewise will be administered by the Finance Council.
Because of this bequest, however, we were able to do some upgrades on our campus, including a new heating system for the school, new floors on the second floor, a new sign, a new door security system for the school and (coming in 2022) a critical section of the roof of the church getting fixed.
In all of this, I am hoping to be a good steward of the amazing gift that Holy Redeemer was given.
Here’s to blessing in 2022.