Fund Our (Lady of Lourdes) Mission
The Good News:
Mass attendance at OLOL rose 38% in 2023?
Mass Attendance rose another 10% in 2024?
Household registration rose 20% since 2021?
Demographics: Global. People from all over the world and all over the country.
THE CHALLENGE: $60,000 DEFICIT BUDGETED FOR OLOL'S 2025 FISCAL YEAR, ENDING ON JUNE 30.
Let's Wipe It Out - Permanently! Keep the Mission Growing and Growing. Friends are moving in from all over the world!
Keep the Mission Going! Can you help “Fund Our Mission”?
We need your help! Sign up with Faith Direct here: https://ololcc.net/give
Help our mission get back in the black! Fr. Frederick Edlefsen (Pastor)
A Letter from Father Frederick
Dear Our Lady of Lourdes parish family,
Saint John Paul II said that a parish doesn’t have a mission. It is a mission. Ours is growing! New people are moving in from around the country and the world. Our Sunday Masses bring God’s people together, offering their lives to the Father through Christ’s sacrifice. In 2023, our Mass attendance was up 38%. Moreover, we now have 1,144 registered households (2,444 heads), up from about 900 households in 2021.
We’re building community among parishioners, friends, and neighbors. Our Parish Picnic is coming up on Sunday, September 15 after the Noon Mass. There will be great food served by our Knights of Columbus, our Hospitality Team, and Hispanic parishioners, along with fun and entertainment for people of all ages.
Over the next year, you’re invited to an Our Lady Guadalupe celebration, Forty Hours Devotion, Our Lady of Lourdes feast day dinner, St. Joseph Day spaghetti dinner, Lenten Fish Fry, and our monthly Sunday brunch by the Knights of Columbus, which starts again on October 6.
Growth is an opportunity and a challenge. One challenge is this: growth is outpacing our resources. While our Sunday collection is up by 1%, Sunday offertory collections have not kept pace with our 8.5% growth in household registration. For Fiscal Year 2024-25, we’re budgeting a $60,000 operating deficit. A financially healthy parish covers operating expenses with Sunday (offertory) collections.
While restricted gifts, like the “Maintenance and Improvement Fund” are helpful (we always have maintenance expenses!), a parish’s ordinary operations should be funded by the regular Sunday gifts of its parishioners. Special one-time gifts are also very helpful, but they vary yearly. Consistent gifts on Sundays and Holy Days are the key.
I ask each of you – all parishioners – to increase your offertory giving. Help me increase our Sunday offertory collection by $60,000 this Fiscal Year, that is, from now through June 2025. This would align offertory income with budgeted expenses. All forms of giving are welcome and important. But online giving through Faith Direct has the lowest transaction cost (lower that envelopes) and have proven to be the most consistent.
Please see the “Fund Our Mission” chart below to explore suggested giving levels. “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). Let’s support our mission with our time, talent, and treasure!
Thanks for your continued generosity and for making Our Lady of Lourdes a spiritual home to so many people!
In Christ and his Mother,
Fr. Frederick Edlefsen
