Skilling Up
Hear from Rev. Alexander Diaz, Pastor, Queen of Apostles Catholic Church, Alexandria, VA regarding our enhanced offertory work:
“One of my top priorities as a pastor is to listen to my parishioners. The survey was an excellent tool; it not only gave me answers to many of my questions but also helped the parish move forward with a highly successful offertory program. I am happy with the outcome and grateful to Dave Cook for leading us through the journey.”
Synodality has a lot to teach stewardship.
That was the lesson learned conducting an increased offertory program at Queen of Apostles Church in Alexandria, Virginia this Fall.
Facing declining income and a deficit budget, pastor Fr. Alexander Diaz knew that urgent action was needed when he reached out over the summer about running an offertory program. “It was not a pretty outlook,” he said.
Together, we created a plan that followed the usual template for offertory programs: Clearly communicate the need, prayerfully ask for the commitment, sincerely acknowledge the gift. We also placed emphasis on parish membership since Queen of Apostles frequently sees new families worshiping at the parish.
The first step, however, was to analyze the parish’s current giving trends. In doing so, a concerning pattern emerged: Many faithful parishioners were not giving as regularly over the past year, leading to a more than 15% overall decline in offertory giving. The reasons weren’t evident simply looking at the numbers. The implication, though, was clear: We needed to gain a better understanding of how parishioners felt about the parish before launching into an offertory program.
Therefore, it was decided that a parish-wide survey should be conducted. Organizing the survey needed to happen quickly so that the offertory program would not be delayed. Despite the short planning window, the survey was deployed in early September without a hitch. It was made available online and by hard copy, and was presented in both English and Spanish. Nearly 200 responses were collected over a ten-day period.
The results were enlightening. Across varied questions about leadership, liturgy, ministry and operations, Fr. Diaz and the parish received consistently positive ratings. If there was one pattern of concern, it was that parishioners wanted to see new life breathed into the parish, but understood the challenges of securing volunteers and other resources to do so. Perhaps most critically, parishioners praised Fr. Diaz simply for listening – for practicing synodality, not just preaching it.
Equipped with the rich feedback from the survey, we went into the offertory program confidently and with a clear plan: to affirm the love parishioners have for the parish, to speak openly about the parish’s urgent financial needs, and to cast a positive vision for the future. Would these messages have been conveyed without the survey? Certainly so. But now, there was a sense that Fr. Diaz was in dialogue with parishioners, and not merely speaking to them.
Weeks later, the fruits of this synodal process abound. Parish offertory giving has increased by more than 20%. Online recurring giving is up by 15%. Second collection giving has increased as well, particularly for the school and the building maintenance fund.
Of the nearly 200 commitments that were made, 28% came from newly registered families, and 44% were collected during the parish’s Spanish Masses.
A $35,000 income deficit-to-budget has all but been erased in less than a month’s time.
Fr. Diaz demonstrated what it means to be a listening parish, and parishioners responded with increased generosity. Queen of Apostles is a shining example of how synodality and stewardship go hand-in-hand!
To conduct a similar program at your parish, contact Dave Cook at [email protected] or 202-725-7226 for a free consultation.