Embracing Inclusiveness
Advocating Mercy
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April 9, 2020Holy Thursday 2020
Dear Parishioners and Friends of Historic Saint Paul Parish,
An optional part of the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper is the washing of feet. This poignant movement during the Mass is iconic: it symbolizes what I, as a priest, pastor and Christian, must do if I am really following Jesus. It is a living symbol of what we all must do if, in fact, we are followers of Jesus and intend to be Church. It is what Jesus told us to do, following his own example.
Our downtown parish washes the feet of people in countless ways every single day. We continue in ministry, even as the doors of our church building are locked and we are forbidden to gather until the threat of infection is eradicated.
Our church has been, for more than 150 years, the living heart of Jesus in downtown. In recent years, our diverse ministries serve Jesus as he comes to us; we serve without judgment and with all the love we can muster.
Because we cannot gather for Mass, our Offertory has taken a major hit. This puts us in peril; how can we pay the bills, continue our responsibility to our employees, maintain outreach in ministry, and continue being the heart of Jesus in downtown Lexington?
Our St Paul Operating checking account as of March 31, 2020 has been reduced to a negative balance of ($11,248). Accordingly, we will be transferring our remaining reserve balance of $53,000 to meet payroll and other parish operating expenses for the next few weeks. All possible cost reduction measures have been examined and initiated.
Although we are fortunate to still be receiving, on average, $2,500 in the
weekly Offertory from VANCO online giving, we will still have a weekly Offertory shortfall of $9,000 based on our 2019-2020 Budget without our regular in-pew Offertory collections.
I am asking you to help as you are able, recognizing that so many have incredibly challenging financial situations now. But, some are blessed with plenty, despite the stock market, and we desperately need the help of those who remain blessed as well as those who could sacrifice a little more to help us make ends meet until we can open our doors again.
Would you consider going to our parish website and making a recurring online offering? If you would, it would be a blessing to us and help us stay afloat. You can go to https://saintpaul.cdlex.org/onlinegiving and sign up on a safe and secure platform used by many churches around the country. Online giving provides stability in giving. Please consider it. Please do it now. Please do it today. Of course, you can also mail your weekly offering to St. Paul Church, 501 West Short Street, Lexington, KY, 40507.
I have faith that God will provide. I have faith that each of you will go online and sign up for your weekly Offertory. I wonder if there isn’t someone reading this letter that has enough to share a miraculous amount with us that can alleviate our anxiety about the future. Maybe there is. I hope so. Or maybe you know someone who could help us, share this letter with them. Regardless, if everyone shares, we will witness a miracle, I just know it.
Pope Francis said, just last week, as he stood in an empty St. Peter’s Square on a horrible rainy evening:
The Lord asks us and, in the midst of our tempest, invites us to reawaken and put into practice that solidarity and hope capable of giving strength, support, and meaning to these hours when everything seems to be floundering. The Lord awakens so as to reawaken and revive our Easter faith.
We wash feet in so many ways. We wash feet because it is an expression of our Easter faith. We share our financial resources as an expression of our Easter faith. We share our financial resources because we believe that Historic Saint Paul Parish with her ministries is important enough to us that we want it to remain as the heart of Jesus in downtown Lexington.
I will never ask you for money when we don’t truly need it. I will never ask you for money for anything frivolous. Before penning this letter, I met with Sr. Clara, JR, and Dave Burgio who is the Chair of our Finance Council, and we discussed our current financial distress and how we could move forward despite COVID-19 and despite not having a weekly Offertory at Mass. The solution we came up with is you. Please help as you are able.
In Corde Iesu,
Fr. Richard Watson, Pastor
In solidarity with
Sr. Clara Fehringer, OSU, Pastoral Associate
David Burgio, Finance Council Chair
JR Zerkowski, Director of Stewardship
