SAY WHAT YOU WILL ABOUT 2009
. . . . .BUT BORING IT WAS NOT!
Tasked with running our company in the midst of the greatest recession in seventy years, my brother and I have found the experience has left us with conflicting emotions. Over the past fourteen months, we’ve experienced great disappointment as well as extraordinary stress and pressure. This has been tempered, however, with many instances of our entire team pulling together in a spirit of collective sacrifice to help each other, to assist our clients, and to help the firm endure the hard times. As a company, we have never worked harder, better, more efficiently and dare I say, joyfully then we have over these past months. Hardship and sacrifice have brought out the best in us all.
As I proudly write this letter, I can’t help but think that every one of our client pastors could say the exact same things about their staff, about their volunteers, and about their parishioners. We have witnessed tens of thousands of families digging a bit deeper each weekend to help support their parish in these difficult times; the work of the church has never seemed more important! We have stood in awe as thousands of pledge cards from capital campaigns all across the country arrived in our office; each completed card giving witness to the importance of Church, Faith, Sacrifice and Hope.
We have witnessed the courage of pastors and lay leaders as they boldly made the difficult decisions that were necessary to keep their parishes operating and to maintain the services that their parishioners needed more than ever. We have seen those parishioners respond. Throughout one hundred fifty-seven appeals this fall and approximately three hundred over the course of the year, in dozens of dioceses, in almost thirty states; we have not seen a single instance where the faithful didn’t respond abundantly. It has been humbling.
Looking back, this has been the most difficult year in my professional life; it has also been the most rewarding. I have never felt more proud of the work that our firm does, of our staff, and of the clients we serve. What we do is important because what you do is essential. This year has been humbling and empowering; difficult, yet, wonderful. I look to the future with a renewed spirit of optimism and a deeper belief in the work that we do.
Thank you for permitting Cunneen to assist your parishes, your dioceses and the people who you serve. Your work is important; it is essential! It remains a privilege to serve our Church.
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