Finance Council

St. Theresa Finance Council Members

  Father Vincent Tran,  Pastor - Ex Officio
  Dcn. Larry Vaclavik, Deacon - Ex Officio
  Enrique Benitez, Parish Manager - Ex Officio
  Sarah Fox, School Principal - Ex Officio
  Rae James, ECC Director - Ex Officio
  Johanna Bransford, HR/Facilities - Ex Officio
  Melissa Swanson, Church Accounting - Ex Officio
  Jeanette Deciderio, Church Accounting - Ex Officio
  Grant Goodland, School Accounting - Ex Officio
  Shelley Starr, Chair - Council Member
  Kelly Glanding Woelfel, Council Member
  Caroline Grahmann-Gardner, Council Member
  Gregory Jacobs, Council Member
  Daniel Donovan, Council Member
  Alyssa Rodriguez, Council Member

The purpose of the Finance Council is to consult with the Pastor and help ensure that the financial affairs of St. Theresa Catholic Community are appropriately conducted, supervised, and reported. By properly managing the Parish’s financial affairs, the Finance Council can assist the Pastor, Pastoral Council, and community in fulfilling the Parish’s Mission Statement.

The Finance Council ensures that a budget is prepared for each fiscal year for the parish and separately for the school. The budgets reflect projected sources of income, both ordinary and extraordinary, operating expenses, capital improvements, debt service, and ongoing cash position. The Finance Council endorses each budget and recommends them to the Pastor for implementation. In addition, the Finance Council monitors performance against the budget every quarter and reports on the performance to the Pastoral Council. The Finance Council is also responsible for preparing and annually distributing a Stewardship Report to the parish, which summarizes the past performance and the current budget.

The Finance Council consists of the Pastor, or at his discretion, other clergy assigned to the parish, and six lay members are drawn from the community, all of whom are active, registered members of the parish and independent of the parish staff. The diocesan policy excludes the Parish Administrator from membership on the Council; however, he/she attends all meetings as an ex-officio non-voting member to provide his/her perspective to aid the Council’s decision-making process. The Pastor appoints lay members based on their business acumen and expertise in accounting and financial matters. Members are appointed for a three-year term and, at the discretion of the Pastor, a consecutive three-year term. No member serves more than six consecutive years. To provide continuity, no more than three lay members are replaced at any one time. The Pastor alone selects new Finance Council members and may seek suggestions from the current Council. The Council determines its Chairperson and any other positions.