Spending on parish feasts

Expenditure on parish feasts is on the rise! A cynic can react saying: What's new, everything else is! True. But there is a pertinent question to be made in this respect: is the increased expenditure proportional to other increases in other areas of much more significant and important pastoral activities? The published statistics do not give us an answer to that question. Let's look at some of them before commenting.

Spending on parish feasts went up from Lm606,595 in 2002 to Lm631,075 in 2003. It seems that Gozo is the greatest spender, proportionately. Expenditure on parish feasts there stood at Lm156, 802, or 24.8 per cent of the total.

If we compare 2003's expenditure with that of 2001 we notice that expenditure in Malta increased from Lm419,000 to Lm474,000 while that in Gozo decreased from Lm173,000 to Lm156,000. 2001 must have been a bumper year for feasts in Gozo.

These statistics which were published by the National Statistics Office include a big caveat. The expenses included in the press release only include those made by parishes! Expenses reported do not include "other substantial festa-related expenditure incurred by band clubs and fireworks factories."

They do not include expenses incurred by other local organisations. The only thing we know for certain then is that we do not know how much is really spent on our parish feasts!

At Lm239,756 - 38 per cent of the total parish feast outlay - outdoor activities claimed the lion's share of expenditure in 2003. A 20 per cent share spent on street decorations rated second, followed by expenditure on bands and choirs, with 10.5 per cent.

There is a particular expenditure that bears further scrutiny. This is money spent on charities. It is good to see that several parishes spend money on charity as part of their feast celebrations. This amounts to 3.5 per cent of all expenses. On the other hand it seems that this expenditure is not on the rise.

On the contrary, in 2001 money spent on charities amounted to 3.6 per cent of total expenses. A very marginal decrease, one can say. This is true. A closer look shows that the decrease was so little thanks to Gozo parishes. In fact Maltese parishes' donations to charity declined from 4.2 per cent in 2001 to 3.4 per cent in 2003 while the expense of Gozo parishes increased from 2.3 per cent to 3.6 per cent.

Will more and more parish priests take more initiatives to increase the amount of money spent on charities during the parish feasts?

Feasts operate at a loss. Expenditure exceeded income by Lm30,000. The largest item of income comes from donations. Statistics show that people are giving less. In fact donations in 2003 were less than in 2001. The downtrend was mainly registered in Gozo. Parishes seem to need to dedicate more time to fund-raising to keep the local festa going. Is it right to have our parishes increasing their fund-raising efforts in these areas? Are not these efforts needed in more important sectors of pastoral activities?

Is the increase in feast expenditure, the decrease in charity donations associated with same and the increased fund-raising efforts in line with what the Diocesan Synod says about our feasts?

One final but important point. Why do the People of God in Malta need the National Statistics Office to give it this information? The NSO gives this service year in year out. The Church leaves its members in the dark. Is this right? Don't Church members have the right to receive information about Church activities from the Church itself and not from a government office?

We do not ask in the hope of receiving an answer. We know that no answer will be forthcoming. We ask to try and get people to reflect on this situation, which is not the only one facing our Church. Synod or no Synod.