It appears that Mother Nature, and not a new ban on gambling, is determining whether Diocese of Covington festivals prosper or suffer this summer.
Many parishes feared the effects of the ban, passed earlier this year after questions about the morality of gambling. The annual festivals are a major source of revenue for most parishes, and casino-style games were a popular feature at the summer events.
But a sampling of Catholic parishes that held festivals earlier in the summer shows many of the worries were unfounded. Several parishes were at or near last year's profit levels, while others were substantially higher or lower. Among those whose profits fell, some blamed the ban - but more faulted the cold, wet weather in late spring and early summer.
"The weather is much more important. (The ban) had no impact at all," said the Rev. James Ryan, pastor of St. Philip Catholic Church. The Melbourne parish cleared about $13,500, up about $400 over last year. "The only worries were if the weather was going to hold and if the chicken fryers were going to work."
In May, the Most Rev. Robert Muench approved a recommendation by the Council of Priests to eliminate all casino-style gambling in the diocese's 53 churches. Pull-tab chances and bingo were spared for the time being, but "easily identifiable casino games" such as blackjack, roulette, craps, keno and baccarat were forbidden. The parishes don't report their official gains to the diocese until the fall, so there is no definitive, diocesan-wide comparison available. But among Northern Kentucky parishes:
St. Anthony in Bellevue took in $10,807.56, down from $12,000 last year and $13,000 the year before. It rained one night of the church's festival, held the first weekend in June.
St. Joseph in Camp Springs was down about 5 percent to $20,000. Ervin Enzweiler of the church's finance committee estimated 2 percent of the decrease was due to the elimination of casino gambling.
St. Thomas in Fort Thomas could not provide figures, but parish secretary Judy Osburg said this year's take was "just about the same as the previous year."
But there were also some clear winners and losers. St. Pius in Edgewood blamed a portion of its major dip in revenue on the casino gambling ban. But its July 12-13 festival also had to contend with extremely hot weather and competition from St. Rita's School for the Deaf festival in Evendale.
"Certainly (the ban) hurt us," said business manager Mike Walker. He put the decrease at $20,000 compared with last year, although he declined to give specific figures. "We were anticipating a drop-off would occur . . . and we budgeted accordingly."
By contrast, St. Catherine of Siena in Fort Thomas was blessed with good weather and a $7,000 increase over last year's earnings. A golf outing, added to the festival for the first time this year, also helped offset any gaming losses.
"We dropped a couple of games, but the amount we made from gaming was small to begin with," said assistant chairman Jim Hils. "In general we try to concentrate on children's games and things like that."
Diocesan officials have estimated that less than 4 percent of a parish's budget comes from gambling proceeds. Parishes worried about the long-term ban might take comfort in the example of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodeaux in Louisiana.
In 1986 the former bishop called bingo and church fairs "the two enemies of good stewardship" and called for their gradual elimination - bingo in five years and fair gaming in 10.
The ban coincided with a diocesan-wide emphasis on giving, and a surprising thing happened: It worked. Contributions began rising gradually, from $5 million in 1988 to $7 million last year.
"It's a poor way to teach people stewardship to offer them too much booze and too much food and too much gambling," said diocesan spokesman J.C. Cunningham. "They're trying to get something for nothing, and that's a bad lesson to teach."
