FAITH IN OUR FUTURE CAPITAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE
Progress Report – November 2019
In the spring of 2019, St. Joseph parish formed a committee known as the “Faith in Our Future Capital Campaign Committee.” Its purpose is to examine all of our buildings, grounds, and facilities and determine how they are, and can be, used to fulfill our parish mission which is “FED BY WORD AND SACRAMENT TO LOVE AND SERVE”.
The Committee includes Father O’Connor, and parishioners Julie Lammers, Scot Brown, Doug Brock, Casey Kettmann, Matt Ramsey, Judy Ramsey, and Barb and Joe Schmall, who serve as co-chairs. In the first few months, the Committee sought to learn about the best practices to be used in major building projects and capital campaigns. We interviewed representatives from other Catholic and non-Catholic churches that have recently conducted major building projects and capital campaigns. We needed to learn about the process and the things that worked or didn’t work for them. Our work has also been guided by Archdiocesan policy and guidelines on how building projects and capital campaigns must be conducted.
One of the most important things our Committee has learned is that it’s critically important to identify the concerns, needs, and desires of our parishioners. To that end, the Committee organized and held several town hall meetings in October with the parish staff, finance council, and pastoral council. Those meetings were followed by three separate meetings with parishioners in general. At each meeting, we asked people to “dream” about what our facilities should look like in order to accomplish our mission.
The town hall meetings generated over 2,000 ideas and suggestions for our facilities. Thank you to everyone who participated in the meetings and provided input. A general summary of the dreams and themes of the meetings is shown below. The input we received will be used to shape our work and the ultimate purpose of a capital campaign. In accordance with Archdiocesan guidelines, the Committee will engage a professional consultant to help us use the information provided to develop a plan for all of our facilities.
We will provide periodic updates as our work progresses and continue to invite your input in the process. Thank you for your support and prayers.
Barb and Joe Schmall
Co-chairs
During our town hall meetings, participants were asked to dream about improvements as we virtually moved through our campus. Below are the six areas that were addressed.
STAFF SPACES
In the category of Staff Spaces the most common dream focused on the rectory. There is a great desire within our parish to either upgrade the current rectory or build a new rectory. Another common theme was in regard to office spaces, where the dreams focused on centralizing the offices, improving accessibility and ensuring office areas are secure while maintaining privacy. Additional dreams focused on the staff breakroom/kitchen, garage utilization and restrooms.
PARISH EDUCATION BUILDING
In the category of the Parish Education Building the most common dream covered the desire to replace the heating system and add air conditioning systems. Other common themes centered around classroom modernization, dedicated gym and/or cafeteria spaces, and improving the safety and security of the entrances. Additional dreams focused on the staff meeting spaces, improved office spaces, daycare, youth room(s) and a chapel.
GROUNDS
When considering the use of our parish grounds, the most common dreams focused on improving the entrances/exits to parish grounds from public streets, expanding the number and size of parking spaces, increasing outside lighting, increasing the size and accessibility of handicapped parking to the church and general traffic flow within the parking lot. Another common theme was the increased utilization of our green space to include recreational/worship areas. Many participants cited updating/adding outdoor signage as an easy, yet effective improvement.
MEETING SPACES
Our Parish Meeting Spaces include the Church Hall, Kitchen, St. Joseph Room, Community Room, St, Matthew’s Room, JPII room and Library. The most common themes indicated a desire to improve accessibility to these areas, along with seating, flooring, lighting, technology and HVAC updates. Additional dreams focused on flexible space configuration and a new or remodeled kitchen.
SANCTUARY
The Sanctuary represents the entire worship space including the altar. This category saw a huge amount of input based on the dreaming done by all. The major areas of feedback highlighted a desire for greater visualization and physical environment improvements, such as celebrating the beauty of our faith through improving the lighting, technology (sound and visual aids) and accessibility regardless of whether it’s to the altar, communion, seating or restrooms. Other enhancements cited improving the space for the music ministry, providing new space for a chapel as well as a space for families with young children. In addition, others dreamed about finding a way to improve the sacristy, confessional and baptismal font areas.
CHURCH VESTIBULE/ENTRY AREA
This category had the most comments of all six areas. It’s obvious from the feedback that we desire a bright welcoming space outside the sanctuary that will allow us to evangelize and spend time in fellowship. Having this space reflect the diverse physical needs of our parish community was obvious based on the comments related to updated restrooms, non-slip flooring, and accessibility without steps. We want a well-maintained space with out of sight storage and areas designed for a variety of uses. The participants dreamed of these spaces reflecting the needs of families at many stages of life – with children, celebrating a marriage or grieving the end of life.