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What happens to my offering after I drop my envelope in the collection basket on Saturday or Sunday?
You come to church with your offering tucked neatly into your purse or pocket. At the offertory of the Mass, the usher passes the basket, and you dutifully drop in your offering. The collection is then stuffed into a zippered, locked bank bag, picked up after each Mass by a courier, and taken directly to Premier Bank in Roseville, where it awaits the Monday morning money counters. There are 18 volunteer parish money counters who work on random teams of six as their schedules permit. Each week there is a captain, a co-captain, and four team members.
On Monday morning, the money-counting captain for the day picks up the bank bag keys and other equipment at the Parish Center and proceeds to the bank. The rest of the team goes directly to the bank. St. John's money bags are received from the teller, and we count our money in a locked room at the bank. Money from each Mass is tallied separately. Here's the procedure:
The six money counters divide into two teams of three. The loose cash and checks are separated from the envelopes. Any special collection envelopes are also pulled out from the regular Sunday envelopes. One person on each team counts the loose money and the children's contributions. The other two team members open envelopes and carefully record the amount for regular parish support and/or campaign pledge contributions. We also check your arithmetic because if yours doesn't add up, ours won't either. We tally the amounts written on envelopes with the money we actually have. The numbers should match - and most often they do. If they don't, we spend a fair amount of time looking for an error.
After the envelopes are all opened, we begin running the adding machines. The envelope checks are totaled and endorsed. The envelope cash is counted. The amounts marked on the envelopes are totaled on the adding machine, with separate tapes run for regular parish support and campaign contributions. We are delighted when the totals match the first time! If totals don't match, we begin by checking all adding machine tapes. If the error is not found, it probably means someone has marked an envelope incorrectly. If it is a large discrepancy, we may try to match names and amounts on checks with names and amounts on envelopes. That is the only time your name would be connected to the amount you have contributed. We open envelopes as fast as we can, and we cannot possibly remember who gives what.
Next, an accounting form is filled out for each Mass. Envelope cash and checks are recorded separately, loose cash and checks are recorded separately, and children's contributions have their own place on the form. When a monetary total for that Mass is arrived at, a deposit slip is filled out and placed with the money in a deposit bag. Then work on another Mass is begun and the process is repeated. The captain of the day fills out a composite form that summarizes the totals from all the Masses.
Votive light money, hospitality money, and any special offerings are counted separately, as time permits. The six counters are usually at the bank about three hours.
At the end of the morning, all deposit bags are turned in to the bank teller. All opened envelopes and completed reports are returned to the parish to be recorded in the proper accounts. The bank money bags also go back to St. John's for use the following weekend.
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