The future of the Croatian parish in Edmonton

Dear friends of the Croatian parish in Edmonton!

Since the future of our community in Edmonton has been announced, spoken about, and written about many times, it is necessary to finally emphasize the seriousness of the uncertain future for the survival of our Croatian parish in Edmonton.

Our parish - like any other - depends on income and volunteers. Our parish's financial reports are publicly available, and the quarterly report will be presented publicly at the end of the Holy Mass. The financial reports show a noticeable drop in donations from the faithful (last year at this time, donations amounted to more than $85,000, while this year they amount to a little more than $60,000). Expenses for utilities have remained almost unchanged (electricity and gas), while the 'Property Tax' has increased, and there are indications that it will go up (by 8.1% next year, 7.3% the year before). Considering the upcoming period, the situation seems quite worrying. Since we have more than $150,000 in the account, we can only be calm for a year, with this increase in prices. The ratio of parish income and expenses will soon start to go in a negative direction. This is just a preventive 'wake-up call', to understand that the future of our Parish is under a big question mark. Basic expenses (financial reports for each month are available online on our website) begin to exceed income (the main source of income is your donations).

It is certainly necessary to include in this equation the increase in the cost of living and living expenses today in the economic situation that Canada finds itself in. In order to reduce parish expenses to the lowest possible level (repairs, servicing, work, materials), it is necessary to have parishioners willing to help in the parish, which represents another and major problem of our community.

The second - leading problem - is the lack of people who would be involved in parish activities. Such a lack of volunteers (works, cleaning, work actions, rehabilitation, parish teams) causes the parish to have financial expenses for the same services, which additionally burdens our annual budget. With this approach of parishioners, our parish - within a period of 2 calendar years - can count on being 'shut down' by the Archdiocese.

By observing the dynamics of the parish community (volunteering or activism of parishioners and financial stability and independence), one can also see its future. As a priest, I have to submit both reports (financial and pastoral) to the Archbishop of Edmonton and the Croatian Bishops' Conference. I have a certain fear that this kind of static nature of us believers may lead to the auto-shutdown of our parish.

No one is exempt from being a member of this community - no one should be 'excused' on their age, gender, or any other basis. In the parish we have members who are active at the age of 82 (physically active despite illnesses), and members who are 9-10 years old. 'Every apology is worth its weight in gold', but in our case, it is only worth abolishing the community in which we can pray in our own language, learn and strive together in our own language, a community in which we have a 'piece' of our Homeland. That this is a serious possibility is evidenced by the cover image of this post, in which we can see the oldest Croatian Catholic church in North America, located in Pittsburgh, which is being demolished after more than 100 years of existence (due to the inability to finance and the lack of parishioners who would contribute, the church was first put up for sale, and then they decided to demolish it in order to make it more profitable). It is also interesting to note that more than 300,000 Croatians live in Pittsburgh today, most of whom - apparently - were not interested in the future of the oldest Croatian church in North America.

Without the contribution of parishioners - whether through work and volunteering, or financial contributions - this Parish cannot count on the future of gathering Croatian believers in its current form. One can rightly ask the question, if a larger part of the current community (young and old) does not want to participate in the life of the parish, then does this community have any point in existing. This 'piece' of the Homeland and the Croatian priest in that community exist solely for one reason - because the community wants it. If this community cannot ensure its existence, then we need to think about what we actually want.

All that is really needed is to apply to volunteer in 2-3 parish teams, or to try to contribute financially to our community. As we can see, everything is literally 'in the hands' of you parishioners.

The future of that 'little piece' depends only on you.

Your pastor Matija