Budget, campaign and endowment highlighted at annual meeting

Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein delivers remarks during the annual meeting of the Catholic Community Foundation on Oct. 24 in Indianapolis. Seated next to the archbishop are, from left, Msgr. Joseph F. Schaedel, archdiocesan vicar general; Toby McClamroch, president of the CCF board of trustees and a member of St. Luke the Evangelist Parish in Indianapolis; Joseph Therber, executive director of the archdiocesan Secretariat for Stewardship and Development; and Jeffrey Stumpf, archdiocesan chief financial officer.

By Sean Gallagher

Archdiocesan officials announced good news on several fronts at the annual meeting of the Catholic Community Foundation (CCF) on Oct. 24 in Indianapolis.

Jeffrey Stumpf, archdiocesan chief financial officer, was the bearer of the positive news.

Budget surplus

In his presentation, Stumpf noted that the archdiocese’s operating budget for the 2006-07 fiscal year ended with a surplus of slightly more than $1 million.

This is the third consecutive year of operational surpluses for the archdiocese after nearly a decade of deficit spending dating back to the mid-1990s.

Although Stumpf noted that challenges such as rising costs in health care,

construction and school operations make staying within the archdiocesan budget difficult, he expressed confidence that there would be no return to running deficits in the near future.

Legacy for Our Mission

Stumpf also shared news regarding the Legacy for Our Mission: For Our Children and the Future campaign.

At the meeting, Stumpf said that approximately $90 million has been pledged to the campaign, just $10 million away from its target.

“We’re very confident that we will meet our $100 million goal through this final wave of the campaign,” Stumpf said.

He also said that the gifts that Catholics across central and southern Indiana have made to the campaign have already born fruit through the establishment of endowments to help home mission parishes, school financial aid, priests in retirement, Catholic Charities and Catholic high schools across the archdiocese.

Catholic Community Foundation

Perhaps the most dramatic news announced concerned the state of the CCF itself.

The Catholic Community Foundation was established 20 years ago with an initial investment of $1.2 million, Stumpf noted.

In its first decade, its balance grew to $29.1 million.

But at last week’s meeting, Stumpf announced that in the last year alone the CCF’s assets grew by $25.1 million to $161.2 million. That includes contributions to endowment funds plus an 18.1 percent investment return over the last 12 months.

Stumpf went on to note that $6.4 million was allocated from the endowments over the past year to numerous parishes, schools and agencies.

The Catholic Community Foundation manages 339 endowments that support the ministry of archdiocesan parishes, schools and agencies.

The endowment’s assets are invested primarily in stocks and bonds. These investments are overseen by the CCF board of trustee’s investment committee, which is currently led by David Milroy, a member of St. Bartholomew Parish in Columbus.

Gratitude and responsibility

During the meeting, Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein and Toby McClamroch,

president of the CCF board of trustees and a member of St. Luke the Evangelist Parish in Indianapolis, reflected on the positive news that archdiocesan officials shared.

McClamroch put the news in the context of the canonization of archdiocesan patroness St. Theodora Guérin. St. Theodora was canonized last October.

“Whenever one of us that led, served and worshipped in this archdiocese is

canonized, then it should bring to all of us a certain new energy, a new commitment, a new spirit,” he said. “It certainly has given the members of the board an appreciation for the responsibility of being stewards of the assets of the … endowments that are included in the foundation.

“It’s a recognition that we need to be aware of the importance of anticipating the needs of the Church in the future.”

Archbishop Buechlein, who was the primary celebrant at the Mass which began the event, remarked during the business meeting that the growth in the CCF is a sign of how Catholics in central and southern Indiana see stewardship as a way of life.

“There is still much work to be done about that yet,” he said, “but I don’t think we could have built up the Catholic Community Foundation to the extent that we have if the people of the archdiocese didn’t believe in the spiritual underpinnings of stewardship.”

Archbishop Buechlein was quick to point out, however, that as seriously as Catholics in the archdiocese take stewardship, people of faith must first and foremost thank God for the blessings seen in the growth of the CCF.

“I think all of us need to be grateful to God because unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain.”†