What do you want your Parish to be?

Do you always feel good about being a St. Philip Benizi parishioner?  Is there anything you would change about the parish to make things better?  The following words offer all of us some “food for thought”:

 

Stewardship Prayer for the Church
Almighty God,
My parish family is composed of people like me.
I help make it what it is.

It will be friendly, if I am.
Its pews will be filled, if I help fill them.
It will do great work, if I work.
It will make generous gifts to many causes, if I am a generous giver. 

It will bring other people into its worship and fellowship, if I invite and bring them.
It will be a parish family of loyalty and love, of fearlessness and Faith, and a parish with a noble spirit,
          if I – who make it what it is – am filled with these same qualities. 

Therefore, with the help of God, I will dedicate myself to the task of being all the things
          that I want my parish family to be.

Bless my journey, Lord God, that I might build the Church through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Stewardship has many faces.
For St. Philip Benizi Parish to be the parish you want it to be,
your  face must be among them.

Treasure...

We, as a parish, have been blessed by the Lord in so many ways.  It begins with our Eucharistic celebration and extends to our community of faith.  Finances are obviously very important to support our ministry.  We appreciate the generous support we receive from you, our parishioners.  As Catholics, we recognize that all we have - our time, our talents, our resources, even our very lives - is a gift from God.

We are called to be good stewards of all these gifts, investing them wisely and generously for the sake of God's Kingdom.  We know that our Lord's promise is to "Seek first His Kingdom and His Righteousness," and all these things shall be yours as well.

A gift of treasure to St. Philip Benizi Church supports the operating budget of our own faith community. The parish offertory is your first gift or tithe which goes to pay the day-to-day operating expenses of the parish.

The Archbishop's Annual Appeal, on the other hand, is a once-a-year opportunity for Catholics in all parishes to join together in support of the many ministries and programs of the archdiocese.

In addition to giving our Time and Talent, the Bible actually suggests that we give God a full 10% of our annual income.  This would be divided as follows: 5% to the parish and 5% to other charities, including second collections, the Archbishop's Annual Appeal, parish mortgage, pledges, and other charities of your choice.

Some parishioners feel that they cannot tithe 5% to the parish offertory.  In that case, consider the possibility of pledging some other percentage and work forward from there.  Consider what you contributed to last year's offertory and prayerfully determine if an increase is possible.

How can I give to St. Philip's?

An offering is taken during each of the weekend Masses.  If you would like Offertory envelopes and are not currently receiving them, please contact the Parish Office at (770-478-0178).  If you would like your contribution or a portion of your contribution designated to the Mortgage Fund, please use your mortgage envelopes or specify "Mortgage" in the memo line of your check.

May God bless you in your generous tithing.
 

Parishioner Contribution Envelopes

Each month, all registered parishioners are mailed a packet of envelopes for the following month's first and second collections and envelopes for our Mortgage.

Parish Outreach to the Local Community

Our parish believes in practicing stewardship within our community by making planned, proportional and sacrificial monetary gifts to worthy causes operating in our parish support area. The following are some examples:

•  We provide a monthly donation to the St. Vincent de Paul Society.

• We provide a donation to a local community organization at the end of our fiscal year.

• Parishioners donate monthly to the parish St. Vincent de Paul Society through second collections and during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons when the Food Pantry is in special need of items for the poor.

We also share our resources by allowing groups, such as the Scouts, ball teams, and self-help groups to use our facilities at little or no cost.

Archbishop’s Annual Appeal

The Archbishop’s Appeal is an annual program of the Archdiocese.  This appeal funds programs and ministries that are just too large or too specialized to be met on the local parish level.  Money provided for the appeal does not fund any day-to-day operations of the archdiocese.

Near the beginning of each calendar year, each family throughout the archdiocese is asked to make a pledge.  This pledge can be paid in one lump sum or paid over the calendar year.  Additional information about the appeal is on the Archdiocese of Atlanta website: www.archatl.com.

If you haven’t made a pledge and would like to make a pledge to the Annual Appeal, you can do so by contacting the Parish Office at 770-478-0178.
 

Planned Giving

Please Consider St. Philip’s in Your Estate Planning.

Although all gifts are planned in one way or another, “planned giving” generally refers to making a gift now, while retaining an interest in the donated property, or arranging for a gift that the charity will receive in the future or at the death of the donor.  Ideally, Christian Stewardship impacts all phases of our life, including our plans for the use of our worldly goods and resources after our death.  Planned gifts are typically larger and more sophisticated than normal Sunday contributions, Capital Campaign, and special fund-raising event gifts.  The subject of a planned gift can take the form of real property, cash or other personal property.

Will or Charitable Remainder Trust:  Gifts can be made to the parish in the following manner through your Will or Charitable Remainder Trust:

• A specific dollar amount;

• A percentage of your estate;

• A particular asset, such as real estate or other valuables.

Real Estate Gifts:  After reviewing their options, donors will sometimes determine that their real estate would be the best asset to use to carry out their charitable intentions.  Donors can make outright, lifetime charitable gifts of real estate.  This can be particularly effective tax planning if the real estate has appreciated in value. The donor can take an income tax deduction based on the full market value of the property and avoid the capital gain tax consequences that would have followed from selling the property first, then donating the sale proceeds.  

Another approach is the life estate agreement.  With this technique, the donor makes a lifetime gift to the charity of the remainder interest in the property (i.e., the ownership of the property after the death of the donor).  The donor retains the right to occupy and use the property during his or her lifetime.  Upon death, the real estate will pass directly to the Archdiocesan organization selected by the donor, avoiding the expense and delay of a probate proceeding.  If the donor is married, the couple can retain the right to use and occupy the property until the death of the survivor.  The property would pass to the charity upon the death of the survivor.

Life Insurance:  The most common charitable giving technique involving life insurance is simply naming an Archdiocesan organization as the beneficiary of the policy.  Upon the death of the donor, the death benefit passes directly to the charity and qualifies for a charitable estate tax deduction.   It should be noted that merely naming a charity as the beneficiary will not entitle the donor to a charitable income tax deduction.  In order to obtain the income tax deduction, the ownership of the policy must be transferred to the charity.  The gift can qualify for a charitable income tax deduction, as will any future cash gifts the donor makes to the charity to pay premiums on the policy.  As the new owner of the policy, the charity can access any cash value in the policy or hold it until the death of the donor/insured and receive the death benefits.  Some donors will even arrange for the acquisition of a new life insurance policy with the charity as the owner and beneficiary.

Retirement Plans:  For tax reasons, a donor might consider naming an Archdiocesan organization as the on-death beneficiary of his or her retirement plan (IRA, 401-K, TSA, Profit Sharing, SEP, etc.) to fulfill the donor’s charitable intentions.  As potential beneficiaries, charities have an advantage over individuals in that retirement plans pass to charities free of any income or estate tax.  Retirement plans can pass to a spouse estate tax-free, but they will be income taxed when the spouse begins to access them.  Plans passing to individuals other than the spouse could be double taxed.  First, the retirement plan could be subject to estate taxes.  Second, the beneficiaries must claim amounts withdrawn from the plans as ordinary income for federal and state income tax purposes.

Stocks and Mutual Funds:  Direct gifts of stock and mutual funds are simple and, as compared with a gift of cash, are often advantageous from the donor’s perspective.  Donors can make an immediate outright gift of stock or use stock to fund a more sophisticated planned gift, like a gift annuity.
 

Financial Support of Santa Ana Parish,
Campamento, Honduras

In addition to our outreach to our local community a subsidy is sent each month to Santa Ana Parish to assist them with ordinary expenses of their parish operations.  In addition, other money raised for Santa Ana is distributed as projects are identified and assistance is requested.  These gifts for Santa Ana Parish do not come from our parish’s general operating income.  The primary sources of funds for Santa Ana’s financial support are from annual St. Philip Benizi “fundraisers” and specific parishioner donations.

Parishioner Contribution Statements

Around the end of January of each year, the Parish Office mails each parishioner (those that use envelopes or contribute by check) a statement of their offerings/donations during the previous year.