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January 28, 2022BY TANYA CONNOR | THE CATHOLIC FREE PRESS
This week $1.8 million is being sent to 87 parishes as part of the Legacy of Hope capital campaign.
One parish plans to give away all of its share. Another will use it to better welcome all people. And another will enhance its ministries and property.
To date, $31,736,239 has been raised for the $32 million campaign, and money is still coming in, Michael P. Gillespie, director of the diocesan Office of Stewardship and Development, said Monday.
On a quarterly basis, Legacy of Hope returns to the parishes, for their own use, 40 percent of the money that has come in from their contributions. For every dollar raised above the target, 60 percent is returned to the parish.
Parish shares totaling $1,790,969 – the most distributed in one quarter to date – were to go out yesterday for Block 1-4 parishes, Mr. Gillespie said. This is the first time Block 4 parishes, which conducted the campaign last January through June, are receiving money, he said. (Block 5 parishes, which finished in December, get their first checks in July.)
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St. Matthew, SouthboroughThe parish receiving the most this quarter – $125,650 – is St. Matthew’s in Southborough, Mr. Gillespie said. St. Matthew’s surpassed its $627,670 target, raising $634,695, he said.
The pastor, Father James B. Flynn, said they were nervous about trying to collect money, since “we had just raised $1.1 million for the expansion of the church” in 2018 and 2019. (The expansion is all paid for, he said.)
“We met our (LOH) goal … so I was delighted,” he said. “God has blessed us in so many ways - we have a big savings account and we don’t have any immediate physical needs. So … we decided … we would share our share with the charities we typically assist.” And two new ones.
For 22 years St. Matthew’s has collected Christmas gifts and gift cards for Pernet Family Health Service in Worcester to distribute, Father Flynn said. So the parish is giving Pernet $10,000 from its LOH share.
Another $10,000 is earmarked for St. Jude Thaddeus Parish in Waldron, Arkansas. St. Matthew’s has been sending gift cards there for about 15 years at the suggestion of a parishioner who was helping the parish, Father Flynn said.
He said most of St. Matthew’s Legacy of Hope share is earmarked for a new endowment: the Father James B. Flynn Scholarship for Catholic Education. He was surprised and honored that the parish finance council planned this use for LOH money “because of my commitment to Catholic education.” Father Flynn was guidance counselor at Holy Name Central Catholic Junior/Senior High School in Worcester for 30 years.
St. Matthew’s will continue to fund the endowment, and the interest will provide scholarship money for students from the Worcester Diocese to attend Catholic colleges. Parishioners love this idea, he said.
And, he said, they especially love that they will use part of their LOH share for the Grace Rett Athletic Complex and Education Center for St. Mary Parish and Our Lady of the Valley Regional School in Uxbridge.
The center is named for a St. Mary’s parishioner killed in a motor vehicle accident in January 2020 while on a training trip with the College of the Holy Cross women’s rowing team.
A St. Matthew’s parishioner – Anne Comcowich, one of Grace Rett’s teammates and friends – was seriously injured in that accident, but has now returned to school and rowing, Father Flynn said.
“We watched Anne grow up,” he said. “We watched her courage. … We’re so proud of her and her mom and dad.” Her mother, Amy Comcowich, is St. Matthew’s director of religious education. She and her husband, Gregory, are Holy Cross graduates and their son, Ross, is a student there.
“We figured … to thank God for the healing of Anne, we would give $25,000 to the GRACE Center,” Father Flynn said.
“We are deeply touched that the St. Matthew’s community thought of Anne” in deciding to contribute to the center that honors her friend, said Mrs. Comcowich.
• St. Patrick, Whitinsville
St. Patrick Parish in Whitinsville, one of the parishes officially involved with Our Lady of the Valley Regional School, is giving $20,000 of its LOH money to the GRACE Center, said Father Tomasz J. Borkowski, pastor. He said they made a ceremonial presentation before the center opened last week. A check to furnish a classroom there is to follow.
He said he thought parishioners would be happy about that, and that $31,578 of their upcoming $78,945 LOH share will eliminate the parish’s operational debt to the diocese.
Father Borkowski said they started the campaign in Block 4, raising half the money then, and continued in Block 5.
“Even though we have not reached the target” of $495,957, “the fact that we raised as much as we have” is pretty good, he said, suggesting that they were hindered by the pandemic. Mr. Gillespie said they raised $335,755.
St. Patrick’s also plans to use LOH money for ministries, buildings and grounds.
The parish will enhance its audio-visual ministry “because it’s very important to us,” Father Borkowski said. During the pandemic they hired a professional to coordinate this ministry with volunteers, and hope to upgrade equipment and purchase software to stream song lyrics for online parish Masses, among other things, he said. Parishioners also plan to give concerts in church and livestream them.
The parish committee has not yet decided how to spend money for ministry to children and teenagers, he said.
Estimates for parking lot repair are to be sought this spring, and some money can be saved for other maintenance when it is needed, the pastor said.
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Sacred Heart of Jesus, HopedaleSacred Heart of Jesus in Hopedale, a Block 4 parish, intends to use all of its LOH money – and additional funds – to make its facilities completely handicapped accessible and welcoming to all, according to Father William C. Konicki, pastor.
The parish raised $242,875 toward its $345,199 target, Mr. Gillespie said.
They plan to expand the already handicapped-accessible area that connects the church and the parish center, bringing it up to code, Father Konicki said. Automatic doors, another bathroom and a carport sheltering people from the weather are to be added.
“It’s actually the entrance that more people use, because it’s more accessible to the parking lot,” he said.
A statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with arms open in welcome, will be moved to this entrance, and another Sacred Heart statue will replace it outside the front entrance of the church, Father Konicki said.
“We need to widen the corridor on the inside of the church, so two people with walkers or wheelchairs could pass each other,” he said.
Among people who come to Sacred Heart are residents of The Ledges, a home for the people with disabilities, he said.
“When we renovated the church we made the sanctuary completely handicapped accessible,” he said. He said the upcoming work was next on the agenda, some money was saved for it and he doesn’t think they’ll have trouble getting additional funds.
