Trust unto others

Last Sunday's St. Al's bulletin had an item asking Did We Confuse You? Confuse parishioners with asking for the annual parish pledge cards and Archdiocesan capital campaign pledge cards together, that is.

On the parish pledge,

Just as the parish has to trust these pledges will be honored, in the same way, the parish asks you to trust your gifts will be used in the most appropriate way possible.

On the Archdiocesan capital campaign pledges,

Once donations come to the Faith In Our Future Trust, the Archdiocese records the gift on the individual accounts. Once a month, the Faith In Our Future Trust transfers 100% of all the donations received by them from you to a special bank account of the parish. Once the parish receives these donations from the Trust, it restricts those gifts according to the intent listed above. Again, just as the parish trusts one’s pledge will be honored, it is asking for additional trust from you that the monies received will be used for the intended purposes mentioned.

Our pastor said at a Sunday Mass that the parish photocopies parishioners' checks before mailing them to the Faith In Our Future Trust. "Trust, but verify" he summed up.

Along those lines, I have stopped filling out the parish pledge card unless I get the current Status Animarum Report with the parish's historical statistics. It's not distrust; I merely want everything verified in writing from another source.