The Archdiocese of Cincinnati!

Archdiocese of Cincinnati
. . . . .leading the way

The Cunneen Company wishes to congratulate Most Reverend Dennis M. Schnurr, Archbishop of Cincinnati, Michael Vanderburgh, Director of Stewardship, Brian Doyle, Associate Director of Stewardship, and members of the Pastor’s Advisory Council for boldly deciding to launch an Archdiocesan-wide Parish Stewardship Initiative in the Fall of 2010.

Beginning in September of 2010, the first of 218 parish stewardship initiatives will commence. The goals of the effort are to deepen parishioner understanding of Stewardship of Treasure. Parishioners will be encouraged to increase their regular giving, to use offertory envelopes, to consider electronic giving, and to be intentional, reflective and prayerful in their support of their parish. All 175,000 families will have access to a three-year subscription of Stewardship in Motion a newsletter which explores all aspects of parish stewardship-Time, Talent, and Treasure.

Leading the way among Catholic Dioceses across the United States, parishes in the Archdiocese will benefit from parish initiatives, which will be funded by the Archdiocese. Each program will be customized to meet specific parish needs, parish timetables, and will reflect the conversation that individual parishes and pastors have already had with their parishioners about Stewardship.

Cunneen welcomes the Archdiocese to its family of clients and applauds its bold leadership. We look forward to our Fall 2010 launch!

Happy New Year

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.

Leadership! You know it when you see it.

Statement of Bishop Tobin in Response to Congressman Kennedy’s Attack on Catholic Church(PROVIDENCE, R.I.) -

The Most Rev. Thomas J. Tobin, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, today issued the following statement in response to a Cybercast News Service article that reported: Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I) told CNSNews.com that the Catholic Church is doing nothing but fanning “the flames of dissent and discord” by taking the position that it will oppose the health-care reform bill under consideration in Congress unless it is amended to explicitly prohibit funding of abortion.

“Congressman Patrick Kennedy’s statement about the Catholic Church’s position on health care reform is irresponsible and ignorant of the facts. But the Congressman is correct in stating that “he can’t understand.” He got that part right.

As I wrote to Congressman Kennedy and other members of the Rhode Island Congressional Delegation recently, the Bishops of the United States are indeed in favor of comprehensive health care reform and have been for many years. But we are adamantly opposed to health care legislation that threatens the life of unborn children, requires taxpayers to pay for abortion, rations health care, or compromises the conscience of individuals.

Congressman Kennedy continues to be a disappointment to the Catholic Church and to the citizens of the State of Rhode Island. I believe the Congressman owes us an apology for his irresponsible comments. It is my fervent hope and prayer that he will find a way to provide more effective and morally responsible leadership for our state.

For the Dan Brown fans out there - I present:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/19/opinion/19douthat.html?_r=1&em

The author of this fantastic little article is a graduate of my High School-Hamden Hall in Hamden, CT. Ross was a few years behind me. I wish I could say I knew him well (I am sure many folks knew him better now that he is a world famous columnist).

Ross Douthat replaces Bill Kristol as the "conservative" voice in the New York Times.

Fantastic article about the controversial yet absurdly popular author Dan Brown.

Well done Ross-and to think we had the same English teachers!

Now isnt this interesting...

Separating Mass attendance from Giving!

Attending Mass and providing financial support to the church are unrelated! Or at least they should be.

For generations our Catholic Churches have insisted that the only way to provide financial support was to attend (utilize envelopes or place money in the basket). While this worked pretty well when Mass attendance was 75% or even 50% of the registered households-it is really burdening the parishes now that Mass attendance hovers around 25%-35%.

While the physical act of placing an offering in the basket is deeply routed in Catholic tradition and for many is an important and expected part of the Mass -dependence on this method for virtually all of a parish's financial support is a recipe for disaster.

Today's Catholic Church has a real challenge when it comes to filling the pews and increasing Mass attendance. This challenge is actually far greater and far more difficult to address than decreasing offertories. Parishes should task their evangelization committee's with developing ways to fill the pews, welcome new families, provide activities for the children, before and after Mass fellowship etc. The finance council should rightfully claim responsibility for giving-separate it from actually attending Mass and begin to take steps to make it EASIER TO GIVE to the local church.

Electronic giving, monthly giving programs, a parish annual report (mailed or emailed to the homes of donors) are all ways to begin to develop a sophisticated and effective giving program at the local parish.

Our Catholic Parishes must:
1.) articulate their case for giving (being church isnt good enough)
2.) develop methods to communicate this case to potential donors
3.) provide easy and accessible ways for donors to give
4.) be accountable

More to follow on electronic giving....