The new year brings new challenges and exciting opportunities for our parish. The building we currently use as our parish hall was originally placed on the property to be used as a temporary multi-purpose building until a new place of worship could be built. For ten years the wooden building served all of the parishes’ needs. This facility can no longer meet the current or long term needs of the parish for religious education classes, general office space, parish social events or use by the numerous St. Patrick ministries and activities. It has always been planned that this facility would be removed when our parish needs exceeded the space available in this temporary facility. It has become obvious that the time has come.
After several years of review and planning by myself, the Pastoral Council and Construction Committee, we are about to embark on a new and much needed undertaking to improve our facilities at St. Patrick by building a new parish center. While we are acutely aware of the current economic issues that many people are facing, we do not want to lose sight of the future needs of our parish.
A number one consideration, beside the space needs, is that the current parish center is a temporary wooden building. Our current parish center has survived three hurricanes by the grace of God. If the parish center would take a direct hit we would lose our educational programs, administrative offices and most of our other ministerial and social functions.
As we are all aware we are badly limited by the current building’s design to carry on multiple meetings or social events. We need to set up the hall for religious education on Saturday for Sunday classes which limits the number of social functions we can hold. The flimsy dividing walls make it difficult to have more than one meeting at a time and can be quite noisy during religious education classes.
A St. Patrick Construction Committee has been formed which has defined the site requirements of the new parish center which will be located directly across from the main doors of the church. After a bidding process, a site planning firm has been engaged to obtain the approvals needed to build the new parish center. This process is going well and it is anticipated that site plan approval will be obtained later this year, at which time we will be able to share future details. The building will include offices, classrooms, meeting rooms and a social hall.
The need for a new Parish Center to meet the current and future needs of our parish is listed as the number one priority of our Pastoral Council. A fund raising committee will be formed in the near future to determine the method, time frame and funds needed to build our new Parish Center. We will achieve our goal through your continued support, generosity and prayers.
Below this letter you will find our financial statement for 2008-2009. Our fiscal year ends on June 30th. We publish the report in the Fall when more of our parishioners are here. The report is also published on the website.
We are blessed to have an excellent Finance Council and Parish Council here at St. Patrick that offer strong oversight of your offerings to the parish. These dedicated parishioners volunteer many hours on behalf of the entire parish to see that things are as they should be in a vibrant growing parish. Their advice and oversight is invaluable. Our Parish Council continues its work on a five year vision plan for the parish entailing all aspects of parish life. We are making great progress.
Tom Rice, our Business Manager, and Guillermo have been very busy taking care of many projects in the parish. We have made major repairs to the irrigation system for the grounds. We did marble cleaning and restoration to the fountain in the narthex. Due to the generous donation of Kitty Wilcox we have added a statue of St. Theresa to the grounds in memory of her husband Taney. The interior of the rectories have been painted, we improved the walkway and handicap ramp to the hall and replaced the office/hall awning. There have been improvements to the drainage system to avoid flooding on the property. We have had to do some major repairs to one of the main A/C units in the church. We have newly installed a video security system for the office/hall due to a generous donation. We have also added security measures to protect the A/C units from damage or theft. There have been many other projects and maintenance matters taken care of. We want to be good stewards of what you have entrusted us with.
You will notice, when you look over the financial statement, that we have retired our financial obligation on the mortgage for All Saints due to your generosity. Thank you for supporting Catholic Education. We will have ongoing financial needs for the school such as repairs to A/C units, painting etc. which can be very costly. Therefore, we will continue the monthly second collection so we will be able to meet those needs. We thank you for your continued support of our school.
This summer our newly formed Adult Formation Team has been working hard on increasing opportunities for growing in our faith. We have brought the School for Christian Formation to St. Patrick for the first time. The school offers parishioners a way to grow in knowledge of the faith and if desired a certificate for teaching catechists. They have also developed many other opportunities in learning more about scripture and other faith matters. Please check the bulletin for these exciting programs.
We continue to be able to support our missions and others due to your caring and living Christ. We have wonderful parishioners and disciples here who give so much of their time, talent and treasure in helping to build the Kingdom. May God continue to bless you all and may we all come to know Christ in our midst at St. Patrick.
