Jason Castelluccio, Finance Committee Chair
I believe I am a fairly typical Westfield dad. I’m married with 3 children between the ages of 4 and 12. My wife Kristy and I play family Tetris. While we do have weekday childcare support, it’s our daily puzzle of who has what child when. How are they each getting to sports practice? When do we eat dinner? How does homework get done? I commute into Manhattan, working as a client portfolio manager; my wife’s career is as a merchandising executive. Needless to say, this is the busy season of our family life.
Yes, in the midst of this, our commitment to Saint Helen is vitally important to our family.
I was raised by a Catholic father and Jewish mother. We attended Saint Catherine of Siena Church in Cedar Grove, but I didn’t receive all the sacraments of initiation until I was an adult. My wife Kristy and I found a home at St. Ann’s in Hoboken, where I participated in the RCIA program and we baptized our children. At St. Ann’s, I became involved in parish life as a lector and eventually chaired the finance committee. After moving to the suburbs, Kristy and I once again became engaged in parish life.
Our children are involved in Saint Helen’s religious education program. Our boys received First Eucharist here and we make every effort to attend Sunday Mass. In many ways, our faith is our anchor, setting the values for our family life, reminding us of important lessons about how to treat school friends and business colleagues, and providing relevant topics of conversation we have with our children about how they should conduct themselves.
We also give serious consideration to our financial support of Saint Helen. It is a misconception, perhaps particularly by those in my generation, that church is “free.” As finance committee chair, I see the pressures our budget is under. There are fixed costs associated with utilities, insurance, salaries, benefits, and maintenance, all of which continue to rise. There are also unexpected expenses. You’ll be hearing more about this in greater detail in the November annual report to the parish on finances and stewardship.
In anticipation of that, I ask you to join me in reviewing your own support of Saint Helen. There are many ways to consider what is right for you: some families set aside a percentage of their income; others budget a specific amount monthly; still others rank their support within the list of their family priorities.
My wife and I have chosen to give electronically through the recurring gift option. For us, it is much like our family’s monthly subscription commitments. It is preset for our convenience and will also provide a predictable gift for Saint Helen.
If your family, like mine, is in its busy season of raising young children, or you are passing on the faith to your grandchildren, I know we can assure the future of our parish by all doing our part.
Click here to learn more about electronic giving.
