October 17, 2021

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Attached in this week’s bulletin is the Financial Report for the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2021.  Also included is the Parish Budget Report for the fiscal year ending June 20, 2022.

Last week, I presented the State of our Parish for the last two years. Once again, I would like to sincerely thank you, the generous parishioners of Mary Our Queen Catholic Church for making everything we do in our Parish possible.  This year, we celebrate the second year of our Early Childhood Education and Youth Center that was opened on September 8, 2020, with great success.  Last year we enrolled 77 students in Preschool/Pre-K and this year we have 79 students enrolled.  We are excited with our new Preschool programs and the opportunity to continue to grow in both students and faith with our youngest learners.

Other noteworthy highlights include the growth in our enrollment in our School and Religious Education Programs as well as the growth of our Parish Family by 192 newly registered families.  This year MOQ School increased enrollment for K-8 with 25 new students and we currently have 512 students enrolled in our school.  Additionally, we created an even stronger academic foundation for our students which include:

  • MOQ School was awarded Cognia Certification – accreditation for our School.
  • Our Faith Formation was also enhanced with the addition of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd within our new atrium in the Preschool building.
  • Our already strong STEM initiatives are now STEAM, with the addition of a new Art program and teacher. We also had a nationally recognized robotics team.
  • Twenty Five percent of our graduating 8th grade class received scholarships to area high schools
    Principal Hoy was recognized by the Archdiocese as Metro Administrator of the Year.

Although this year looked different from years past, we were able to celebrate MARQUEE in February with the theme Home Together.  Our theme this year illustrated our effort to continue to build our community in spite of the pandemic.  Some gathered in small groups with their friends and family while others chose to stay at home to celebrate MARQUEE.  The event was an amazing success with over $238,000 raised to support Mary Our Queen.  A sincere thank you to all who organized, volunteered, and donated to MARQUEE 2021.

Through the funds raised by the Marquee Raise the Paddle in 2020, we had the concrete of the Entrance Plaza of the Kenny Center replaced and added more green space and areas to gather this fall.  We also added more lighting in the gathering area.  We started to address the heating of our school given that all the steam pipes are over 50 years old.  The current estimate to upgrade the system is $340,000 ($85,000 per wing of each floor).  We replaced the hot water piping of the lower-level east wing of the school last summer with a variable volume terminal unit with a heating water coil in each classroom which connects to the existing ductwork. This included new temperature controls for the rooms and extension of the heating water piping from the lower-level mechanical room to each coil.  All this was made possible because of the proceeds from 2021 MARQUEE funds.  We are hoping to use the proceeds of our Raise the Paddle towards this over the next three MARQUEES.

As we look to the future of Mary Our Queen and our call to make missionary disciples of Jesus, we are committed to being attentive stewards of the many blessings we receive. We continue to pursue effective and sustainable solutions for planning for our future needs and maintaining and renewing our aging facilities.  We are hoping to replace the HVAC units of our Church and Cafeteria in the spring/summer of next year as they are the original units when the building was built.

We were fortunate to be able to qualify for the Payroll Protection Act (PPP loan) that provided federal  assistance to pay and retain staff given the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.  We qualified for and received the second round of PPP loan in February this year which was forgiven last month.

This year as you can see in the Parish Finance Reports, Mary Our Queen is facing a $220,205  shortfall.  We know the impact that COVID-19 has had on our Parish and families.  We are grateful to be back fully celebrating the sacraments with you.  We did however experience reduced donations during this time, and as a result we reduced our forecast to match what we are receiving in weekly collections.   I pray and earnestly ask you to continue and if possible, increase your Sunday giving.  Donating to the church weekly or monthly allows us to fulfill our mission- Making Missionary Disciples of Jesus.

Thank you for your continued support.  We are humbled by the many individuals and families who support the Mary Our Queen community with their time, talent, and treasure.

God Bless,

Fr Marc