CMA Update

The most recent Parish-by-Parish Catholic Ministries Appeal results posted on dor.org are dated February 24. As of that date the data show total pledges of $4,723,062 and total assessments of $5,294,734. In other words, total pledges are now at 89.2 % of total parish assessment.

Pledges are tapering off

The number of new donors per day has been running at about 18 over the last 3 weeks and new pledges have averaged $105 during the same period. If these trends continue through the end of the drive in May, the 2008-09 CMA will wind up about $373,200 (or 7.0%) short of its goal.

Total donors still down by 4,000

The total number of CMA donors is now 33,067, some 4,000 short of last year's "more than 37,000." The difference in unemployment rates can explain about a quarter of this difference but that still leaves about 3,000 of last year's donors inexplicably absent from this year's campaign.

Parishes with MCCS Schools through June 2008

The Monroe County parishes that lost their schools last June continue to lag significantly behind those that kept theirs. Overall, the "Kept Schools" group has pledges running at 98.1% of CMA assessment while the "Lost Schools" group's pledges are at 81.9%. Were the latter group pledging at the same rate as the former their overall pledges would be about $125,000 higher than they actually are.

Individual MCCS parishes

Data for 10 of the 11 Monroe County parishes that kept their schools are being reported by DOR. (Peace of Christ Parish is conducting a combined CMA and parish fund drive and is not included.) Pledges at all but 2 of these parishes are at or above the diocesan average. In addition, only 2 of these parishes are $10,000 or more short of their assessment, St. Thomas More ($10,963 short) and Christ the King ($12,208 short).

12 of the 13 Monroe County parishes that lost their schools are still in existence. Of this group all but 2 parishes are below the diocesan average and 8 are $10,000 or more short of their assessments. These parishes (and their shortages) are St. Monica ($10,474), St. Andrew ($11,657), St. Margaret Mary ($11,920), St. John the Evangelist ($12,199), St. Theodore ($12,205), Good Shepherd ($13,033), Holy Trinity ($23,888) and St. John of Rochester ($28,693).