Father Leo Byrne, Mr. Peter Coughlin, Chairperson; Mr. Sean Flynn; Ms. Wendy Gallivan; Mr. Peter Gentile; Mr. Tom Lodge; and Ms. Debbie Moulton

Our Parish Finance Committee includes appointed, volunteer members of the parish including our pastor, Fr. Leo. The Finance Committee is one of the required committees in the Roman Catholic Church – as set out by the Code of Canon Law. The Archdiocese of Kingston and the Code of Canon Law clarifies that the role of the Finance Committee is to support the parish priest in the management and administration of the “goods’ of the parish. At St. Paul the Apostle, we work very closely with our pastor to provide leadership and recommendations on both short and long range financial planning and human resource management.

Our Parish financial year is from January to December and at the end of each financial year we review and approve the Parish Financial report to the Archdiocese of Kingston and we prepare the Annual Financial Report to parishioners. This report to the parishioners is usually distributed in March, for the preceding financial year. The Finance Committee has set out goals and objectives to guide our work together - including the importance of clear and regular communication to our Parish community.
The Finance Committee tracks the “revenue” received from our parishioners. We do not receive any funds from government or other organizations so it is essential that we carefully monitor the income that is needed to support the many commitments that keep our parish running smoothly.

On the other side of the ledger are the “expenses”. These are familiar to all of us in our own household budget and planning. We plan for the regular operating costs of a large building, property and related costs as well as the salaries for part time employees and a very modest income for our pastor. The Finance Committee works closely with the Parish Pastoral Council, to listen and respond to the developing plans for the Mission of our parish. Programs for youth, older adults, children, music liturgy, pastoral visiting are important and the Finance Committee strives to respond to the current and future faith, liturgical and program needs as set out by the Parish Pastoral Council.Finally, we keep an eye to the goal of debt reduction. We have “built our future” and St. Paul’s is very much a beacon on Taylor-Kidd Boulevard. We are proud of our accessible and beautiful place of worship. Our mortgage loan via the Archdiocese of Kingston is now significantly smaller and in the last two years we have knocked this debt down ($260,000 in 2006 and $265,000 in 2007) so that effective March 31st, 2008, the outstanding principal is now $870,000.

In the month of May, please check out more news about the Finance Committee on the  Communication bulletin board at the church. If you have any questions about the role of the Finance Committee, please contact the parish office and a member of the Committee will be in touch with you. Finally, thank you for your tangible and important support.