MARCH 29, 2006 INSERT

There are only two things that are certain: "death and taxes." Everyone is familiar with that cliche. We who are Christians believe that Jesus Christ has conquered death. But not even He has been able to conquer taxes.

The Canon Law of our Catholic Church says in #1259: "The Church can acquire temporal goods by every just means." #1260: "The Church has an innate right to require from the Christian faithful those things which are necessary for the purposes proper to it." #1261: " The Christian faithful are free to give temporal goods for the benefit of the Church." #1262: "The faithful are to give support to the Church by responding to appeals according to the norms issued by the conference of bishops." and #1263: "After the diocesan bishop has heard the finance council and the presbyterial council, he has the right to impose a moderate tax for the needs of the diocese; this tax is to be proportionate to their income." In Pittsburgh, this tax is called the Parish Share Appeal and is imposed on the income of parishes.

It is Parish Share Appeal time again (actually, it is later than the diocesan schedule, but I'm just getting around to it because we run on a different timetable here. I feel that Lent should get off to a good spiritual start before we face finances.) By now, I think I think everyone knows what Parish Share is about. Parishes run their operations on a range of incomes: offertory, fundraisers, bequests, etc.) Dioceses run their operations by taxing a portion of what Parishes derive. That's right, it is just like the secular government and income tax, except that we have a fixed rate of 17.6% of all income. Each year the diocese computes the Parish income and assesses the amount for the Parish to remit to the diocese.

The diocese then uses that money to run all of its programs: Central Administration, Marriage Tribunal, Seminary, Priest Retirement and Continued Education, Archives, Chaplaincies: in short, any and all support type services that cannot be run by and individual parish. These are supported in the entire six county areas of south western Pennsylvania that is the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh. This buget is about $23 million per year.

It is up to each parish to decide how to raise its assessment. We do it the simplest way possible: we take the total amount (about $100,000) divided into 12 monthly installments (about $40 per month per contributor). If everyone does his share, we will make our goal. If you can do more, please do. If you cannot, do what you can. Jesus conquered death. Let's take a crack at the taxes.

Parish Share

WHAT? $95,160 This is the amount which our parish must remit to the Diocese of Pittsburgh. If we raise more than this amount, we can retain the excess for our parish (assessment free). If we raise less, then we must use operating funds to cover the difference.

WHY? 17.6% This figure is computed by taking 17.6% of all our income (offertory, Festival, donations, bequests, fund raisers, etc). It is a striaght assessment at this percentage for all parishes. This percentage is higher than past years.

WHEN? NOW! The Diocesan Drive has already begun and we have until December 31, 2006 to pay off the full amount of our assessement. We at St. John of God will not visit homes, or send out monthly bills on pledges as the diocese recommends. We view this as a continued and year round effort.

HOW? SIMPLY In each month's envelope packet, there is a blue envelope marked "Parish Share" - cash, check, money order, can all be placed in this, which can be dropped in the collection anytime you are at church, or mailed in, or left at the rectory, or put in my hand when you are greeting me outside church. A one-time lump sum can be given, monthly installments on a yearly pledge, sporadic payments, when you get your IRS refund: in short, any way, any where, any time - as long as you get the contribution to us, and it is clearly marked Parish Share, it will be gratefully accepted.

WHO? EVERYONE! An overall average of $40 per month from each contributor (including visitors) means that we can reach our assessment with some to keep for our local ministry. This program will only work if all of our people participate. We must average this amount. If you are able to give this each month, it will add up to what is needed. If you are able to give more: please do so to help the effort. If you are not able to give this amount, please give as much as you can, every bit helps. Any amount at any time adds to the overall total - and more importantly shows that every member of the parish is a part of the whole - our parish and our diocese. Percentage of participation is an even more crucial statistic than the amount of money that is given. We need everyone!