Our Lady of Sorrows Roman Catholic Church

Dear Friends:

The warmer weather and the return of public Masses has been a double blessing for our faith community! Although we now worship in different circumstances, we can come together again and celebrate Mass and receive the Eucharist. Praise be to God!

Some of our parishioners have started to return to Mass; others are waiting until they feel a bit more comfortable. This is understandable. However, during the last four months, your staff at Our Lady of Sorrows continued to be present, kept the bills paid, the grounds and buildings cared for and to ensure the ongoing operations of our parish.

Although most of our parishioners are not physically present at church yet, we need to remember our financial gifts are needed to keep our parish financially solvent! This is especially true during the summer months, when we travel and are away enjoying vacations and visiting friends and family.

To that end, staff at the Archdiocese of Baltimore recently asked parishes to conduct an analysis of their cash flow and months of cash on-hand for operations. We did our due diligence and discovered for the short-term, we are in good financial shape! Currently, we do not need to take remedial measures such as drastic expense cuts or furloughs/layoffs of employees.

However, the last three weeks our offertory has been extremely low. Contributions made through parish envelopes or loose cash/checks given at Mass or dropped off at the parish during the week makes up our weekly offertory. This, along with on-line giving, is the financial lifeblood of our parish.

To provide an illustration of our recent shortfalls, the last three weeks our total offertory (excluding on-line giving) was $9,154. Typically, our average weekly offertory (again, excluding on-line giving) is around $6,000 per week. So, roughly, we received the last three weeks about 50% of what we normally receive. This is a trend that cannot continue for too long without consequences.

This is another reason why on-line giving is so important. Many of our parishioners experience the ease and convenience of on-line giving, which provides a reliable and consistent stream of income for our parish operations, ministries and programs. If you are not able to attend Mass for whatever reason, your valuable financial contribution still reaches us!

If you do not currently give through electronic funds transfer (EFT) from either your credit card or checking account, please consider doing so by visiting our EFT Web site, WeShare, at https://olos.churchgiving.com/ or by calling 1-800-950-9952.

God’s Blessings to You!

Peace,

Deacon Brent