Catholic Services Appeal (CSA)

The annual Catholic Services Appeal (CSA) is an essential part of the parish’s mission to the wider church and to its own financial well-being. We ask that all parish members attempt to make some type of CSA donation yearly. Many use this time to make significant gifts to the parish, since 100% of the monies directly help the parish’s bottom line.

Letter from the Pastor

The annual Catholic Services Appeal (CSA) is the way each parish helps the wider Church of the Archdiocese of Detroit carry out its mission and ministry.  Each parish is assessed a mandatory amount per year. All donations through the CSA help the parish reach that amount (and so do not have to use operating expenses for it) and then come back to the parish 100% for all donations that are beyond the mandatory amount. Please use the tabs below to learn more about this year’s CSA and/or click on the button above to make a pledge/contribution to benefit both the Archdiocese of Detroit and St. Regis Parish. Be sure to choose St. Regis as the organization who will get credit for your C.S.A. contribution. Thank you.

CSA Myths and Facts

MYTH: The C.S.A. mandatory target for the parish is based on how well or how poorly the parish did in the C.S.A. the previous year

Fact:

The previous year’s C.S.A. drive has nothing to do with this year’s mandatory target. Targets are based on an objective formula which looks at the average amount a parish receives in Sunday and Holy Day contributions over a three-year period. An adjustment is made for parishes with schools (10% reduction) and then a percentage of that three-year average (13% for us) becomes the mandatory target. Thus, as a parish’s income grows its C.S.A. target grows. As a parish’s income stabilizes or even declines its C.S.A. begins to go down. A parish can go way over the mandatory target in their yearly C.S.A. and that has no effect on the target it will receive the following year.

MYTH: The C.S.A. donation is the least effective way to donate money to the parish.

Fact:

Just the opposite. The C.S.A. is the most effective way to donate money since every dollar directly benefits the parish 100%. It either helps the parish pay its mandatory target, which otherwise must come from its other funds, or it comes back to the parish “tax-free” unlike other contributions that are taxed at 7%. This means if someone has a significant donation to give to the parish, the most effective way to do so, and the way that benefits the parish the most, is through the C.S.A.

MYTH: If we don’t reach our C.S.A. target, there is no consequence to the parish.

Fact: If we don’t reach our target, the parish must pay the difference out of its other funds.  That means we either reduce other operating expenses or take it from our savings. This is a very significant consequence to the parish for not reaching the mandatory target.

MYTH: No parish makes its C.S.A. target. Targets are way too high.

Fact: The majority of parishes make their C.S.A. target every year, including this past pandemic-affected year. Most parishes use the C.S.A. to raise additional funds because they know they will go significantly over their targets and not have to pay any diocesan assessment on that money. It all comes back to the parish “tax free.”

MYTH: Withholding C.S.A. money is a good way to send a signal of displeasure to the Archdiocese.

Fact: If you want to show displeasure at the diocese or the bishop, withholding C.S.A. donations only hurts the parish, not the diocese. The diocese will receive all the budgeted money either through the C.S.A. drive or by billing the parishes for the missed target.  The best way to show displeasure to the diocese is through a thoughtful, direct letter to Archbishop Vigneron, detailing what your concerns are.

Fact: No C.S.A. dollars have ever gone toward projects outside the diocese. Also, no C.S.A. dollars have gone toward defending allegations of sexual misconduct or for payouts to bring such situations to a close.  The C.S.A. budget is pre-approved and C.S.A. money goes toward funding those programs and offices for which it was budgeted.

MYTH: The Archdiocese has plenty of money for all of its programs and doesn’t really need this C.S.A. money.

Fact:

The budget for the C.S.A. (approximately $16 million this year) represents the largest portion of the overall yearly Archdiocesan budget. Money is also received by assessing all parishes 7% of their Offertory and parish fund-raising money (raising approximately $11 million) and by investing reserves in the financial markets. The Archdiocese also receives at times some bequests from wills and other donations. Without the C.S.A. monies the Archdiocese would not be able to maintain most of its many ministries (over 170 different programs and ministries) such as: Church: Parish, School and Faith Formation Support, Christian Service Outreach, Marriage Tribunal, Sacred Heart Seminary, Vocations Office, Communications, and Bishops’ Ministries.