St Barnabas probably emptied out their endowment purchasing their property from TEC, but I believe you heard from a parishioner that they were left a very substantial amount of money more recently. There has been a multi-year program of renovation of the church and basement, demolition of the former rectory, acquisition and renovation of a new multi-use property, creation of a parking lot, etc. They now house a full-time school. So there is, or was, capital. Their Bishop’s Appeal goal in 2016 was $3,200. They did not become a full parish until late 2017, and probably do not have many more than the minimum number of parishioners required. I see that their Bishop’s Appeal target for 2017 was also $3500. I don’t know what the formula is for calculating the BA targets but if it was $5000 this year they must have experienced a significant increase in revenue between 2017 and 2019.But let's still keep in mind that if there are somewhere around 30-50 pledging entities, we're talking a bishop's appeal goal in the neighborhood of $100 per family, which, if this year's performance is any indication, is not met. If the parish is able to meet the shortfall the following year from endowment income, well, that's something, but it gives an idea of where the ordinariate stands in the parish's priorities. What's the difference between that and, like some "continuing" parishes, dropping out of the denomination entirely and just continuing as St Barnabas Independent Anglican?
This also reminds me of one among many other problems with how Fr Barker left the St Mary of the Angels Hollywood parish. The income from the commercial property was so substantial that nobody in the parish felt compelled to pledge more than a token amount, so nobody really had skin in the game. But the valuable property then became a football for parish factions to struggle over.
My regular correspondent also commented,
Most dioceses fund their chancery functions from the cathedraticum and hold a special appeal for charitable works in the diocese. The North American ordinariate seems to be unique in relying on the bishop's appeal to fund its operational budget. Any shortfall in a community’s bishop's appeal pledges from parishioners is billed to the community and paid out of its general revenue.I think a better overall explanation for how the ordinariate funds its operating expenses is simply that interest in the project is so limited that the cathedraticum from parishes is insufficient to fund ordinary diocesan functions. Under the Pastoral Provision, the small number of Anglican Use parishes could avail themselves of diocesan departments. Bp Lopes and Msgr Newton, on the other hand, both refer to the need to build these functions "from scratch", but even building from scratch requires expertise on one hand and raw materials on the other, neither of which the ordinariates have.So in fact the cathedraticum (currently not a “tithe,” more like 16% ) is split into two parts, one of which may be met through direct donations by parish members. Of course, collectively, donors not affiliated with an Ordinariate parish contribute more than any individual parish, so perhaps this is why the OCSP’s finances are structured this way.
So what we're seeing is "growth" that occurs only by fits and starts when parishes receive bequests, as seems to have been the case in Omaha, or angel donors, in cases like Our Lady of Walsingham, Murrieta, and apparently now in Montgomery County, TX. But the bequests and angel donors don't create thriving parishes with an interest in supporting a diocese. Without angel donors, the project just doesn't grow at all.
