April 15, 2015
Dear Parishioners:
I am writing to you about an exciting transition happening here in our Stoughton collaborative community.
Starting in May 2015 we will be rolling out our new offertory envelopes and speaking to you about new online
giving options.
It is my hope that in this transition we can all commit to our community, each parish’s special identity, and join
together in unity as one stronger Catholic family of Stoughton. We are being handed an opportunity to revisit
our love, commitment, and hope to our parish and to ignite our passion, talents, and dreams for both Saint
James and Immaculate Conception. I hope each of you will take a moment to read this and pray fully think
about your personal contributions to our community.
“For as in one body we have many parts, and all the parts do not have the same function, so we, though many,
are one body in Christ and individually parts of one another.” Romans 12:4-5
Over the years parishes began to expand their use of envelopes to help bring in money to support the
operations of the parish. There are countless “parts” to our Catholic community that we need financial support
for. In this transition I find the words above to be incredibly helpful. We still need your support for all of our
parts and functions but need to transition how we gather the financial support back into the single parish body
in a more effective way.
We are switching over to a new process that uses a significantly less amount of envelopes. I will be explaining
the envelopes below for you. I ask you to take a few minutes to think about how much you currently
contribute to your parish in the existing envelope system. We will be presenting to you in May the financial
state of both parishes. There will be less envelopes now for you to make your contributions through but both
parishes are not in a financially viable state that we can afford to lose the donations you currently make to the
envelopes that have been removed. Please keep this in your hearts and minds when you receive your new
envelopes.
Each week you will have an offertory envelope. Saint James has a blue border and Immaculate Conception has
a red one. You can put your envelope into the collection basket at either parish. The color coded envelopes will
be sorted back to each individual parish where you had intended your donation to go.
In the past, you may have seen envelopes for parish support, snow removal, etc. The offertory envelope of the
parish is supposed to sustain all of the operational expenses. The parish, just like your home or business, has
all of the same day to day expenses. The offertory envelope income is what pays for the utilities, employees,
maintenance, insurance, supplies, liturgical items, religious education, ministries, hospitality, and more. Your
contributions to the offertory envelope is the core financial support in keeping our two parishes open, safe,
and well maintained.
Every month you will receive an envelope for Capital Improvements. The contributions made in these
envelopes are for the capital repairs of the parishes only. This is the money that is used to repave parking lots,
install new doors, or renovate a building. The parish and finance councils will always be involved in the
decision of how these funds are used.
The second collection schedule is attached for you. These collections come from The Archdiocese of Boston.
The donations received in these envelopes are sent directly to what that specific collection was for. For
example, in May we have a second collection for the Seminarians. All funds submitted in that special collection
envelope will be sent directly to the Seminarians.
We have kept certain envelopes for our ministries. The schedule for ministry collections is attached as well. For
those of you who would like to contribute more frequently to a specific ministry we will be having some
additional envelopes made to keep in the office as well as in the back of the church. You will also have the
option to donate directly to a specific ministry through the online giving system as well as on our website. Our
website www.stoughtoncatholic.org is coming along nicely. We will be adding the feature to donate through
the website soon.
Finally, to help make this transition as easy as possible for the staff as well as the bank please make ALL checks
out to either Saint James or Immaculate Conception. If the check is for a ministry or second collection can you
please write that information in the memo field. Legally the checks need to be written out to the parish and
not the ministry. Submitting your donations online, in the dedicated ministry envelopes, and using the memo
field on your checks will help us ensure that your donation is documented for your intended use.
I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to read the information about the new envelopes. If you have any
questions please do not hesitate to call or email me at any time.
In the peace of Christ,
Jennifer Jones
Finance & Operations Manager
The Stoughton Catholic Collaborative
jjones@stoughtoncatholic.org