Happy the congregation with no large endowment.

That’s a thought that may well have crossed the minds of at least some church and synagogue leaders in recent days as they’ve pondered the impact of the Wall Street meltdown on their respective houses of worship, and their ability to reach out to people in need.

For Roman Catholic parishes, which rely on weekly collections, leaders see no reason why their churches cannot weather this financial storm. For others — namely congregations with large endowments — the mounting losses in their investment portfolios could mean painful choices lie ahead.

Across Rhode Island, pastors report that they have seen little or no decline in the weekly collection plate, despite the pressures of unemployment and housing foreclosure.

“Our collections have always been up and down, but we are holding our own,” said the Rev. Joseph Santos, pastor of the inner-city parish the Church of the Holy Name, on Camp Street in Providence. “Yes, some people stepped back, but others have stepped up to the plate. It’s a wonderful example of people filling in when others can’t.”

Yet for those churches and synagogues which have relied heavily on endowments, the picture is not so rosy.

“There are four pastors I know of who are looking for other jobs because their churches can no longer afford them,” said the Rev. Liliana Da Valle, executive minister of the American Baptist Churches of Rhode Island. “Some of our churches had been surviving on those endowments, and now those churches, especially the small ones, are suffering.”

Da Valle says the association’s central offices and programs have been hard hit, too. For one, she says, donations from the 75 Baptist churches that belong to the association amounted to only $100,000 this year instead of the $185,000 that had been projected.

Second, the association has seen the value of its investment portfolio — which finances 14 percent of its operating budget — drop by $750,000.

Even so, Da Valle says she isn’t considering cuts in staff, and doesn’t think this is a time to ask people for more money either.

“I think it would show a lack of compassion for us to ask people to give more now,” she said. “But we are in a deficit, and this is the dilemma we face.”

Robert L.G. Batchelor, treasurer for the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island, said that in normal times the diocese derives “several hundred thousand dollars a year” — about 30 percent of its budget — from its diocesan investment trust. It also derives revenue from each parish equivalent to 17.5 percent of that parish’s income from two years before.

But this year, he said, is “not a happy situation,” with the portfolio down by at least 30 percent. He fears that some parishes among the diocese’s 50-plus churches have been less conservative with their investments and have lost more.

“It’s very likely we will have to pull our horns in,” he said, suggesting there could be reductions in grants to college chaplains and to diocesan music programs, to name a few.

If there is one bright spot, says the Rev. Robert Brooks, rector of Providence’s Grace Episcopal Church, it is that the price of oil has gone down, too. “Earlier this year I was worried about the ability of some of our smaller congregations to pay their fuel bills.”

As with many of his fellow priests, the Very Rev. John E. Unsworth, pastor of St. Brendan Roman Catholic Church in East Providence, said weekly collections have held steady. But he says he has seen the effects of the downturn in other ways.

Between June and September, enrollment at St. Brendan’s School dropped by 19 students — mainly, he says, because families felt they could no longer afford the $4,000 annual tuition.

“And we’ve found it much more difficult to fundraise for the school,” he said. “Our bazaar this year drew as many people as other years, but they didn’t buy as many raffle tickets.”

The Rev. Raymond B. Bastia, the Catholic diocese’s vicar for planning and financial services, says that Rhode Island’s Catholics seem to be “cautious” in their giving outside the collection plate, as reflected by the Catholic Charity Fund Appeal missing its $8.25-million goal by a couple hundred thousand dollars.

But the vicar, who is also pastor of St. Joseph Church in Providence, sees no reason to worry.

“Look at all the churches that were built in the Depression. We have faith and trust that people will be there when we need them.”

Still, Providence Catholic Diocese Bishop Thomas J. Tobin has asked the diocesan finance council to recommend strategies for dealing with slight, moderate and severe declines in income. He has also asked organizers of next year’s Catholic Charity Appeal to scale back to a more “realistic goal,” to what it was two years ago.

If the time comes to close the gap between revenue and spending, the bishop said, the diocese will look first “at all the obvious administrative possibilities,” such as a hiring freeze and placing limits on salary increases and grants. But there is no guarantee, he said, that certain other grants, such as those given to priests to work with immigrants, will continue either.

“I don’t think we have a strategy for increasing revenue. … The balancing act will have to rely more on cutting expenses.”

Rabbi Leslie Gutterman, of Temple Beth-El, the Reform Jewish temple on the East Side, said that for his congregation too, keeping up with the expenses of a large building has been a struggle, but in the end it has always met its budget needs through the help of its significant endowment and the willingness of some families to give more.

This year, because of the downturn, he said, the temple is facing a “daunting deficit,” but he thinks this can also be a time of opportunity.

“We may be in a deficit, but we are not a losing institution,” he said. “Our true inventory is that we are made in the image of God, with innate dignity. Our houses of worship offer unique opportunities for us to be our best.”

rdujardi@projo.com