Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Do you want to send me money?

I've noticed a phenomenon I find curious--people with blogs will ask for money...and get it!

Well, however reluctant I am to do this, it occurs to me my parish should not suffer because of that. I'm trying to raise money to paint the school gym -- we had smoking at bingo for years, until I made it no-smoking; but as a result, the gym ceiling and walls are pretty grimy. I'd like to get it done before school starts, and time is running out.

I need about $16,000--and I have $3,000.

Well, I can't imagine why you would, other than the goodness of your heart -- but if that is what you choose to do with your money, who am I to refuse? For that matter, someone reading this may have oodles of money, and really have nothing better to do with it. So maybe God really does want you to send it to me; who am I to argue?

So, if you want to send me money--or, that is, St. Boniface Parish--you can do so by making checks payable to:

St. Boniface Parish
310 South Downing Street
Piqua, Ohio 45356

(By the way--if I raise enough for the school ceiling, do you want the money back? Or may I spend it for new pews, or for a new baptismal font, or for repairing the exterior of the church, or for repainting the rectory? You get the idea--I don't want to accept your money under false pretenses. So if you are kind enough to add a little note answering that question, my conscience will be clear...)

All kidding aside, your gift would be completely tax-deductible, and greatly appreciated.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fr. Martin,

We thought of you on Divine Mercy Sunday and on Corpus Christi Sunday -- we pray for and think about you on other days, too! Thank you for enriching our lives and for providing opportunities at St. Albert's to help us teach our children their faith. My children still talk about the Corpus Christi procession.

a Kettering mom

Anonymous said...

Serves your right for ending smoking at bingo. I bet that cut into your bingo profits. You have great courage.

I served on a parish finance committee and the new pastor cut out smoking at bingo and after losing over $7500 a month in income and receiving hate mail and vicious looks decided to let the parish council determine what to do. Smoking was restored and profits returned with even an increase. Father spent the next month calling bingo numbers to make amends. This is a few years back but I remember it well.

I think I will take up the offer and send along a donation just for bringing back this memory.

Mari said...

Do you take PayPal?

Fr Martin Fox said...

Mari:

Tell me how to do it, and I'll try.

Fr Martin Fox said...

Anonymous:

Thanks for visiting, and your encouraging comments.

I really enjoyed being at St. Albert's; and the Corpus Christi procession was great, wasn't it?

Next year, I hope to do that here, going from one parish to the other -- only a 1/2 mile! If I can get started on it, enough in advance . . .

Fr Martin Fox said...

anonymous (2):

Well, the no-smoking thing was not simply my idea: the bingo committee recommended it; the pastoral council agreed; and the key was that volunteers were refusing to work. It has hurt us a little, not a huge amount. We did get more volunteers.

Anonymous said...

Father, really enjoy your blog. Just found another you might want to look at and link to. I suspect you two priests might just get along well. I love his # reasons for celebacy and a lot of his other posts.

http://orthometer.blogspot.com/

By the way, just sealed the envelope to send along my donation. I am the anon that posted about the old memory of the priest war with the bingo bas....

Anonymous said...

I've never heard of this before. however, as many parishes do not even have money for Church buildings or for schools or even room for CCD classes, I do not think donating to a rich parish they've never attended is the best place to send people's money.

I've seen parishes with cracked walls in the sanctuary. I've been in them.

I've been to Catholic parishes where they do not even have rooms for CCD, and do not even have the money to build a proper church but are celibrating Mass in what looks to be a very large trailers.

God bless you, though for kicking the smokers out. It is a shame that in the same gym kids play in that people were allowed to pollute it with smoke so dangerious to their developing bodies.

dutch said...

I will send a small donation. I expect you to do a tap dance and scream loudly "GO SHARKS!" for my SJ Hockey Team, when you receive the check.

Hehe. I am an evil Protestant, I should just ask you to scream
ZWINGLI! CALVIN! LUTHER! THEY ALL ROCKED! Long live October 31st!

(Well, that is my birthday).

Christ be with you (seriously),

dutch

Fr Martin Fox said...

Duchess:

A small donation will get, for you, me whispering "Go Sharks!" (What do I care, Piqua doesn't have a hockey team?) And no tapdance for that. For me to scream anything, you have to send big bucks; and more big bucks for the tapdance...

You pay for the whole thing, and I'll say almost anything you want about the Reformers, even Zwingli...

Anonymous said...

Fr. Fox, it is great to read your writings. You really made me smile to read about your budget and repair dilemna. (I have the same issues here.) I appreciate your candor, humor, and focus on Ministry. How refreshing. Keep up the good work.

dutch said...

Wow. I am so tempted. *Zwingli...mwahaha...Calvin...evil laugh...Luther...hehe... Alas, I haven't the money. But I did send a check to you so I expect you to be shouting out how great the SHARKS are when you get it. ;)

PS: I am a great big sinner. I thought of you wearing a "I [HEART] Zwingli and his men!" t-shirt. May God forgive me for my treatment of a nice priest.

Fr Martin Fox said...

kronprinz:

I'm not sure if you mean, I should ask the Knights of Columbus to pay for it, or physically to do the painting.

As to the former, I am happy to have them give to this, and I will ask them. I'm pretty sure, however, they won't have the full amount.

As to the latter, there are liability and other practical issues involved in having volunteers do this sort of work. For one, insurance; another, by the time you rent the equipment, put up the scaffolding, etc., I'm not sure how much you end up saving. And, three, (and this is a big issue in parishes) what do you do if/when the job is done in an unsatisfactory way--or simply not completed in a timely fashion? If I hire someone, I can withhold the payment until it's put right. What do you recommend regarding volunteers?

Finally, realize that in this parish, our "maintenance committee" is made up of folks who operate from a default position of, "let's do the work ourselves." So whenever they recommend hiring someone, that means they've made the judgment that this is not a job for parish volunteers. I'm hardly in a position to dispute their judgment.