Church of Saint Eugene 

September 29-30, 2018
 
An Update from the Parish Administrator…
 
I hope that everyone had an enjoyable summer and that we will have some beautiful fall weather with God’s grace. We have been very busy, and I would like to take the time to fill you in on the progress in our Parish.
·       The Renew & Rebuild campaign is still ongoing, to date we have $1,002,547.96 pledges from the $1,200,000.00 goal.
·       Monies paid to the parish from ongoing pledges is $200,116.51.
o   The money dispensed from the Renew & Rebuild has replaced the old air conditioners in the church and installed proper thermostats for them,
o   LED Lighting for the church and offices,
o   Tree cleaning and outdoor lighting,
o   Updating and adding a thermostat and zones to the church and school so that we can heat some areas and keep the others at a temperature that is safe for the pipes,
o   New faucets in the bathrooms in the school as well as replacing the aged water fountains.
o   We have other projects on the agenda, but we must wait until the money is received by the Renew & Rebuild office and dispensed to the parish.
·       The Cardinal’s Appeal for our parish this year had a goal of $96,000.00 to date we have $59,142.00 in pledges and $56,104.00 collected. We are very thankful to all those who have participated in either one or both of these campaigns. 
 
When we arrived at Saint Eugene Parish in September of 2015, the first item on the agenda was to assess the parish buildings and the finances. At the time the parish had red bills (debt) to the Archdiocese totaling more than 1.6 million dollars. The debt of the parish to the Archdiocese has been reduced to $1,200,00.00.  
 
The parish has three buildings… the church/school, convent/office and the rectory/priest residence. All the buildings were in need of major repairs. Some of the items like the leaks in the air conditioner vents and the air conditioners as well as the church electrical needed to be addressed immediately as they posed safety issues. Others were placed on a list of priority.  
 
As we assessed all the properties, we realized that we do not need all the buildings. In April of 2016, Father Fernan and I met with the Vicar General, CFO and Real Estate Division Head of the Archdiocese. We proposed to them the possibility of taking a loan from the Archdiocese to renovate the office/convent and then sell the rectory/priest residence to repay the loan.  This proposal was immediately approved. (No monies will be taken from the Renew & Rebuild Fund, the Cardinal’s Appeal or Weekly Collections for this project) All work is supervised by the Archdiocesan Facilities Planning & Project Management Company, which is Aramark. Unfortunately, the first architect that was recommended by Aramark in May of 2016 did not keep costs down as we requested and therefore the project had been delayed for more than a year. In May of 2017, we hired a new architect.  In March of 2018, all of our papers, with the approval of Cardinal Dolan, were submitted to the Yonkers Building Department for permits. We received word this past week, after 6 months, that our permits have been approved and we will begin construction Monday, October 1, 2018.
 
The convent/office will be renovated to have the priests live on the second floor with the offices and meeting rooms remaining on the main level. Again, there will be no debt incurred by the parish because the sale of the old rectory/priest residence will pay for these renovations.  This will ultimately save the parish monies because selling the rectory/priest residence will release us from replacing the aged boiler and aged roof, as well as paying for the gas & electric for the heating and cooling, snow removal, landscaping, telephone, cable as well as Westchester County and Yonkers water and sewer taxes. The alleviation of these bills will be a great financial savings for the parish.  Also, the newly renovated convent/office will be energy efficient so that we could save on those utilities as well.
 
Our offices, we plan, will remain open for regular office hours.  We appreciate your patience as we move forward with this major step to secure the future of the Saint Eugene Parish.
 
We are very thankful to Cardinal Dolan, Monsignor Mustaciuolo, the Vicar General, Mr. William Whiston, CFO, and David Brown, Real Estate Division Head, for assisting us in this project and keeping the parish of Saint Eugene vibrant.
 
I will keep you all updated on the progress. Saint Eugene pray for us.
 
Thank you, and May God bless you always.

Gina Mastrangelo
 
 

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