On behalf of the Saint Mathew Parish Finance Council, I am pleased to present to our parishioners the annual financial report for the fiscal year 2024, which ended on June 30. The "bottom line" indicates that we finished the year at approximately $15,000 in the black. Please note that this is not a "profit"; it simply indicates that the parish received more than we spent in the fiscal year. It does not include the accounting for other liabilities and assets that the parish has, including payments on a loan from the Diocese that total more than $126,000 (a liability) and income received through the "Heart of a Shepherd" campaign (an asset of almost $60,000), as well as other liabilities and assets of the parish. Our financial position as of June 30, 2024, the end of the fiscal year, was just over $39,000 in the black. Of course, this number changes consistently, as income and expenses are accounted. I should mention also that the parish had to submit to the Finance Office of the Diocese revised reports for the two previous fiscal years, 2023 and 2022. The reason for this was a simple but significant misreporting to the Diocese of income from the "Heart of a Shepherd" campaign. In both previous fiscal years, funds that the parish revived from the Diocesan Foundation were incorrectly reported as income for the year. This would indicate that we had both received and spent those funds during the year. In 2022, we received from the HOS campaign a total of $65,240. This was mistakenly reported as "operating income", indicating that we had used those funds for renovations during FY 2022. In fact, we did not use ANY funds from the HOS campaign during the fiscal year 2022. These monies should have been reported as income to our SAVINGS account, and not to our operating account. Because of this mistake, the financial report to the diocese (and to the parish) indicated that we had finished the year more than $49,000 in the black, when in fact, we had finished the year almost $16,000 in the red. This reporting error carried over to the following fiscal year as well. Because we started with an incorrect figure, that number carried over, and at the end of FY 23, our report was also incorrect. The report made to the Diocese and to the parish for FY 23 indicated that we had finished the year over $24,000 in the black, when in fact we had finished just over $7,500 in the red. Once again, this error was due to the misreporting of income and expenses from the "Heart of a Shepherd" campaign. Happily, the previous errors have been corrected, and the report for FY 24 is accurate. This report, as well as the previous years' reports, have been reviewed and accepted by the Finance Office of the Diocese. If you are interested, you may visit the Finance Council tab on our parish website (stmatthewparish.net) to review the details of the financial reports for the previous fiscal years, as well as the report for FY 2024. On the "Finance Council" page of the website, you can also see a full report of the income and expenses related to the renovations completed in the church and the former school building. Much of this renovation involved funds received from the "Heart of a Shepherd” campaign, as well as funds received directly by the parish for the renovation fund. I apologize for the reporting errors contained in the previous financial reports. Once again, I want to express my thanks to all those who so generously support the ministry of the parish, both in the special projects of renovation, and even more, in the daily ministry and work of our parish. If you have questions or concerns about these reports, or any other matters concerning the finances of the parish, please contact me, or one of the members of the parish Finance Council, as listed below. Many blessings to you and to our parish! Father Michael Williamson, pastor