A New Church?
September 9, 2007
The following information was presented by Steve Suellentrop, Finance Committee President, at this weekend's Masses.
Regarding the Possibility of a New Church
Steps we must take BEFORE a decision can be made about building a Church:
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First, we needed time for us to welcome and then start to set new directions with a new pastor.
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Second we needed some kind of process for listening sessions, so that our pastor and leadership could listen for the Spirit’s direction for the parish from the voices of our people That process is going on currently.
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Third, we have to finish paying off the $80,000 debt from the diocese.
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Fourth, we have to see how many active parishioners we actually have now and what kind of stewardship decisions they will make with their time talent and treasure, so we can know what the stable income of the parish will be in relation to our current expenses.
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Fifth, when the debt to the diocese is paid off, and we can show them a steady income that exceeds expenses, then we can ask their permission to do a feasibility study which would determine whether the parish is financially capable of doing a large enough fundraising drive to meet the cost of building a new Church.
The above is what the Parish needs to accomplish before we can move forward. The information found below is taken from the St. Louis Archdiocese website and lays out the steps in the process a Parish must undertake.
In the life of a parish, school or service organization, it is often necessary to conduct a capital campaign. A capital campaign is basically a concentrated effort to raise significant funding over a relatively short period of time. Capital campaigns are usually conducted for one or more of the following reasons.
- For capital improvements or renovations
- For new building projects
- For debt reduction
- For an endowment fund
All capital campaigns in the St. Louis Archdiocese must by approved by the Archbishop. Mr. Frank Cognata, the Chief Development Officer of the Archdiocese, is available to consult with parishes through all stages of their capital campaign planning.
The first step towards a capital campaign is a feasibility study. An outside consulting firm should conduct the feasibility study. After study of the current situation and interviews with members of the community, a feasibility report will indicate
- If there is adequate support for the proposed project.
- If the project should possibly be scaled back or expanded.
- What the best goals and timeline would be for the capital campaign.
Because of the complexity of conducting capital campaigns, it is strongly recommended that all archdiocesan organizations retain the services of a professional capital campaign consultant to conduct a successful capital campaign. This consultant can be the same one who conducted your feasibility study or a different one.
Any parish interested in conducting a capital campaign or feasibility study, should contact Mr. Frank Cognata to arrange any or all of the following:
- A meeting with the pastor and/or parish staff
- A meeting with the Finance Committee
- A meeting with the Parish Council.
The following are conceptual drawings of what a Church could look like:
