News
Pre-Authorized Giving
Over the past two years, the Archdiocese has introduced a program for parishes called "The Pre-Authorized Giving Program". This program enables you to have your parish offerings transferred directly from your bank account to the parish on a monthly basis. This procedure is probably not new to many of you since today many people pay a lot of their bills in this fashion. However, it is the first time that this process has been available to us as a parish community. I realize that this is not something that will appeal to all parishioners but we want to make it available to those who might find it to be a convenient alternative.
This program makes it simpler for you to support the parish financially. You won't have to fill out an envelope every week or think about those weeks when you are unable to attend. It also saves you the bank charges for writing cheques. It is also helpful to the parish as it will enable us to have a more regular and dependable flow of income to meet our expenses and it will reduce the time required to count the weekly offerings.
The program works like this: On the 20th of each month, the Archdiocese will withdraw your designated offering from your account and transfer it into our parish account. It's that simple. There is no minimum number of people required for the parish to begin this program but naturally, since its purpose is to try to ensure regular monthly donations the more people who sign up the more helpful the program will be. Also, if for any reason, you want to change your monthly contribution or withdraw from the program, you simply need to give the parish office one month's notice. The program will cost you nothing. The $0.35 cent fee for each transaction will be covered by the parish and you will receive an income tax receipt for 100% of your contribution.
If you would like to take advantage of this program please complete the "Authorization Form" (Word doc) and place it and your voided cheque in an envelope and either bring it to the parish office or put it in the collection basket at church. The deductions from your account will then start on the 20th of the month following the month that you submit your authorization form. So, for example, if you submit your form in January, you would stop making weekly donations as of the beginning of February and on the 20th of February your monthly contribution would be withdrawn from your account. If you still wish to put an envelope in the collection basket each Sunday, may I suggest that you do so and write on the envelope "Pre-Authorized Payment" but without indicating any amount.
If you have any further questions about this program please don't hesitate to contact Helen in the parish office and she will be happy to answer your questions.
Sincerely,
Rev. James Hannah
Pre-Authorized Giving Guide
If you are in the habit of contributing to the parish only monthly, then shifting to monthly pre-authorized giving is not a problem. The amount you gave in your envelope each month is the same amount that you give through pre-authorized giving. But if you have been in the habit of giving each week then it is a little more complicated. The temptation is to think that your monthly contribution would simply be four times your weekly contribution. But the fact is that there are several months in which there are five weeks. Therefore, in order to continue to give the same offering to the parish on a monthly basis as you would if you continued to give on a weekly basis, you need to figure in those months that have five weeks.
To assist you with this, we have prepared the following chart which we hope might be helpful to you. Instead of multiplying your weekly donation by four, you actually multiply it by 52 to determine how much you give per year and then you divide that figure by 12 to determine how much you need to give each month to maintain your current level of offering.
| Weekly Donations of: | Equals annual donations of: | Equals Monthly donations of: |
| $1.00 | $52.00 | $4.00 |
| $2.00 | $104.00 | $9.00 |
| $5.00 | $260.00 | $22.00 |
| $10.00 | $520.00 | $43.00 |
| $15.00 | $780.00 | $65.00 |
| $20.00 | $1,040.00 | $87.00 |
| $25.00 | $1,300.00 | $108.00 |
| $30.00 | $1,560.00 | $130.00 |
| $40.00 | $2,080.00 | $173.00 |
| $50.00 | $2,600.00 | $217.00 |
| $60.00 | $3,120.00 | $260.00 |
| $70.00 | $3,640.00 | $303.00 |
| $75.00 | $3,900.00 | $325.00 |
| $80.00 | $4,160.00 | $347.00 |
| $90.00 | $4,680.00 | $390.00 |
| $100.00 | $5,200.00 | $433.00 |
| $125.00 | $6,500.00 | $542.00 |
| $150.00 | $7,800.00 | $650.00 |
| $175.00 | $9,100.00 | $758.00 |
| $200.00 | $10,400.00 | $867.00 |
| $250.00 | $13,000.00 | $1,083.00 |
| $300.00 | $15,600.00 | $1,300.00 |
| $400.00 | $20,800.00 | $1,733.00 |
| $500.00 | $26,000.00 | $2,167.00 |
Authorization Form
Print the "Authorization Form" (Word doc) to submit to OLPH.