Capital Campaign Update
Dear Friends in Christ,
I am deeply grateful to the 90 parishioners who wrote to me in response to my July 14 letter to parish members on the status of the building project. Because I believe what they wrote is important, I want our parish leadership bodies to also consider their ideas, comments and concerns. That is why I will be sharing their comments (without the authors’ names) at upcoming meetings with our leadership councils and commissions.
A quick summary of the comments here will provide you with an idea of the wide range of opinions expressed. What I learned was some want to see the project completed; some do not see a pressing need a new church or gym; some just want a gym/multi-purpose facility; others are concerned with the increased estimated cost of the project and still others that wonder what will happen with funds collected if we don’t move ahead with the project. In other words, there were almost as many concerns, opinions and suggestions as there were respondents.
Although 90 letters do not constitute a majority of parishioners at St. Thomas More, the responses do reflect a wide diversity of experience in the parish and express many different opinions about future directions. The parishioners that wrote were articulate, well-informed and obviously care deeply about our parish. Their opinions and comments will serve as a basis for a short survey that will be distributed to the entire parish later this month. The individual comments and opinions already received, as well as the responses to the parish-wide survey, will then be part of the final feasibility study.
Once the short parish-wide survey has been distributed and analyzed, you will receive a summary of the results as well as a summary of the opinions expressed in the earlier letters. Then, based on the results of the short parish-wide survey, and with further input from our leadership bodies, a decision will be made on whether or not to proceed with a new building project planning process.
Again, I thank you who wrote to me and I thank all our parishioners who have contributed to the building campaign and have been so patient. Please continue to pray that God’s will be done in this process and for our community.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Fr. Bob