Stewardship of Gratitude

For St. Raphael’s Future

God has blessed each of us abundantly.

Stewardship is our response: offering our time, our gifts, and our resources so His Church may thrive today and for generations to come.

We invite our parishioners to prayerfully reflect on their generosity and stewardship, and to consider making a pledge that goes above and beyond their current giving as they help strengthen the mission and future of our church.

Why Your Pledge Matters

Everything we have is a gift from God. Stewardship is our grateful response, returning to Him a portion of what He has entrusted to us so that His Church may continue to flourish.

This Spring we invite every registered family to consider increasing your weekly giving at least one giving level, aiming for 3% of annual income. Your pledge supports parish ministries, formation, facilities, and outreach. A typical 3% pledge is about $250/month.

Thank you for the many ways you already live out our mission. Your gift matters.

Pledge Your Support

Please join our parish effort to strengthen our ministries by committing to increasing your offertory giving. We are asking each registered family to find your current giving level on the chart below and prayerfully consider at least pledging to increase one giving level. If we are able to achieve a 3% annual pledge from all our registered families, we will meet our goal. For a household at our median income, 3% is about $3,000/year — roughly $250/month.

In 2025 we commissioned a Reserve Engineering Study of our buildings and campus to project our maintenance needs over the next 5 years. That study found that we need to contribute to our reserves account each year $660,000-750,000 to keep our Campus running. Our current reserve contribution is essentially zero, so we need to increase overall offertory giving by 40% to meet our goal. Your pledge—monthly, weekly, or yearly—provides predictable support for formation, outreach, and upkeep. Make your pledge online at [link] or return the card by [date]. Thank you for your prayerful generosity.

Stewardship Key Points

  • 65% of Families give to Offertory, 35% we have no record of giving

  • 21% of Families made up 77% of giving
  • We have only 19 families giving $250 or more a week, down from 80

  • We need $750,000 more each year to fund our reserves to pay for campus maintenance needs over the next 5 years

If each family could increase its donation to the next giving  level we could close the gap and fully fund our reserves

Offertory Giving Level $ Per Week % of Registered Families % of Total Offertory Giving
0 $0 35% 0%
1 $1-25 43% 14%
2 $26-49 8% 10%
3 $50-124 9% 25%
4 $125-249 3% 16%
5 $250+ 2% 36%

FAQs

Q: What is 3%?

A: It’s 3% of your annual household income; at our median, ~$3,000/year ($250/mo).

Q: Can I give more or less?

A: Yes — give what you can. Every pledge helps with planning.

Q: How do I give?

A: Online, by pledge card, or by envelope.

Our Parish Responding in Faith

Family Stewardship Participation: 35%