Finance Council

  Father Philip Lloyd,  Pastor - Ex Officio
  Enrique Benitez, Parish Manager - Ex Officio
  Melanie Leadingham, ECC Director - Ex Officio
  Diane Bordelon, Council Member
  Danthea Dumayas, Council Member
  Yessica Garces, Council Member
  Caroline Grahmann-Gardner, Council Member
  Gregory Jacobs, Council Member

The purpose of the Finance Council is consultative to the Pastor to help ensure that the financial affairs of St. Theresa Catholic Community are properly conducted, supervised and reported. Through proper management of the parish’s financial affairs, the Finance Council is able to 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 church 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 on a quarterly basis and reports on the performance to the Pastoral Council. The Finance Council is also responsible for preparing and distributing to the Parish annually a Stewardship Report 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. In order 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.