Parishes still facing high heating bills

Kristin Lukowski and Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published January 27, 2006

Msgr. Michael Bugarin, pastor, points to some of the gas bills St. Joan of Arc Parish in St. Clair Shores has received recently for buildings in its parish complex, with the several bills received in December adding up to $22,500.

Detroit — There are still 52 official days of winter left, which, in Michigan, could account for several more months of winter-like temperatures.

To combat the high heating bills that come with the cold weather and rising natural gas prices, churches continue to dial down their thermostats and heat large worship spaces – which often come with high ceilings – only for Masses.

As reported in the Jan. 6 The Michigan Catholic, St. Cecilia in Detroit received a shocking $10,000 heating bill, although the latest bill was about $8,000, partly because of recent warmer weather and school being closed for the Christmas holidays.

But churches are still seeing heating bills in the five-figure range, especially if the parish is heating buildings in addition to a church.

At St. Joan of Arc Parish in St. Clair Shores, the most recent gas bill came in at about $22,500 – "pretty close to triple what it was this time last year," said Msgr. Michael Bugarin, pastor of the parish.

Besides this year's higher rates, the fact that the bill also covered a little more than a month, 36 days, contributed to it being higher, but Msgr. Bugarin said they still have not figured out why it was that high.

"We're studying it," he said, explaining they are checking thermostats and other aspects of their heating system.

Msgr. Michael Bugarin checks a heating system control unit at St. Joan of Arc Parish in St. Clair Shores, where he is pastor.

"We've got old, antiquated boilers, and some of the windows in the school building probably ought to be replaced with better-insulated ones," Msgr. Bugarin continued. He said the immediate focus has been on what "quick fixes" can be made, but they would also be looking into longer-term solutions.

Having a large church that seats 1,200 and six other buildings in the parish complex on Mack Avenue between Overlake and St. Joan streets means St. Joan of Arc has a lot of space to heat.

With thermostats dialed down to 63-65 degrees, instead of 68 degrees, it gets a bit chilly, but Msgr. Bugarin said parishioners have been supportive ever since he told them about the whopping great bill at Masses on Jan. 7 and 8, with more information in the parish bulletin the following weekend.

"The people understood about the need to wear their coats in church, and some have even made extra contributions to help with the heating bill," he added.

Msgr. Bugarin is hoping he will not see another gas bill quite so large: "With all this warm weather we've been having lately, I'm hoping the next one won't be so bad."

St. Florian, one of the tallest churches in the archdiocese, received a heating bill of about $20,000, but that also includes the cost to heat two schools and a gym, which pay their fair share, said pastor Fr. Tomasz Sielicki. With the help, paying the heating bill is not a big problem, he said.

He also said the church is proactive about controlling its heating bill, such as adjusting the heating so the church is kept at a lower temperature unless there's Mass. He said the church's heating is an efficient steam-heating system, and it only takes about a half hour to heat the church.

Also, beginning last week the church moved its daily Masses to a convent chapel across the street – a smaller space, but still big enough to accommodate the several dozen daily Mass attendees – to eliminate the need to heat the church's space every day for Mass.

At nearby St. Ladislaus, of which Fr. Sielicki is also pastor, the only Masses there are Sunday unless there's a funeral, Fr. Sielicki said.

People at the churches try to be proactive by watching the temperature, keeping thermostats down and turning off lights when a room isn't in use. "Winter is winter," Fr. Sielicki said.

Churches really started to get hit with big bills last month to reflect the colder temperatures of December. St. Cecilia in Detroit received a $10,000 heating bill for its church, school and activity center, for example, about twice the cost of its bill for the same time last year.

The average high temperature for Detroit in January is 33 degrees, with an average low temperature of 20 degrees, making it the coldest average month of the year. The temperatures recorded by The Weather Channel showed that temperatures for most of January were at least a few degrees colder: All but two days of the first three weeks of the month warmed up to above freezing, and five days of those three weeks warmed up to 45 degrees or higher.

Although St. Cecilia's latest bill was still $8,000, what's been very good, said pastor Fr. Theodore Parker, is how the people have responded by contributing more to pay the bill.

He was impressed with one 1935 graduate of the school who sent in a check for $2,000. "Isn't that something?" he said. "That's just extraordinary."

But the people who contribute smaller amounts of money help, too – last weekend's special collection raised about $1,300 for the heating fund. Fr. Parker said the parish will scrape by and has confidence that support will continue.

Other churches have also been turning down the thermostat, only heating the church when necessary and even installing solar-powered heating and energy-efficient light bulbs.

St. Charles Borromeo in Detroit, for example, moved Mass into its basement, a space more efficient to heat than the church and its 50-foot ceilings.