Dan & Mary Dirrigl
Stewardship Committee members at St. Gregory the Great in Buffalo, NY

Dear Don, Eric, and Staff,

In gratitude for the guidance and support you have given St. Gregory's over the past eight months, we are happy to recommend your services to other parishes.

Before speaking about the impact you have made at St. Gregory's, we both want to thank you for your influence on us and our family. Of all the parish committees we've worked on, the Stewardship Committee has been by far the most rewarding, in large part because of CSC's involvement. In working so closely with you, our entire family has been challenged by the stewardship message.

In addition to our own spiritual growth, we have also witnessed tremendous progress in our parish. St. Gregory's has 4,900 registered parishioners—a huge parish by any standard. And yet, since we have begun working with CSC, the parish has truly become a "smaller" place. There is a renewed sense of community among parishioners, and, notably, among our large staff. We have definitely experienced the "increased ownership" that you promised at the outset of our engagement.

When we began working together, we both were struck immediately by your unique blend of professionalism and spirituality. Every service you have provided—our newsletter, the survey, the Stewardship Renewal—all are top-notch quality, and at the same time, they never fail to keep us focused on the core element, which is Christ and His Church. This was certainly true of our Leadership Retreat, and continues with the newsletter, an uplifting publication that has been extremely well-received.

During the Stewardship Renewal, one of our main goals was to encourage Mass attendance, which has in fact improved. We also set out to gain support in certain key ministries—all of which now have as many volunteers as they can handle!

Of course, we also wanted to improve stewardship of treasure. Last summer, contributions were down, but we created a very ambitious budget anyway—one that many thought we could not reach. However, after the Stewardship Renewal we saw an 11% increase in collections, and we are now 3.5% above budget. For us, this is fantastic progress, especially considering the weak economic conditions in the Buffalo area.

We brought CSC to St Gregory's because, like a business, we wanted to bring in the "best practices" of other organizations. We knew it would be an investment, but we knew that CSC had worked with successful stewardship parishes before. To us, it made sense to draw from those successes, and in the end, it paid off. You helped us understand what works and what doesn't work, and then helped us apply it at St. Greg's. We simply wouldn't be where we are today without your help.

Again, thank you. We look forward to our second year of working with you, and we would be happy to talk about St. Gregory's success with any parish that is considering working with CSC.

Sincerely,

Dan & Mary Dirrigl
Stewardship Committee Chairs