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St. Kieran Catholic Church Chicago Heights, IL |
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Capital Campaign Progress Report The Capital Campaign - What is it?
October 28th - Thanks to Bishop Perry and his Master of Ceremonies Mario Borha, Mayor Ciambrone from Chicago Heights and Mayor Maggio of Glenwood, Bill Matthys from the Linden Architecture Group, Mike Lombard and Tom Parnesh from the Lombard Construction Company who were our invited guests, as well as our many parishioners who attended the ground breaking ceremony last Sunday. It was an important moment in St. Kieran history. As always our Women’s Club did an outstanding job providing hospitality for everyone.
“Building
on
the
good
work
of
those
who
went
before
us” More than 4500 parishioners from over 1600 households are touched by Christ’s love at St. Kieran Catholic Parish. At Sunday and weekday Masses our Blessed Lord teaches and feeds us. In the sacraments of Reconciliation and Anointing he heals us. In each of the other sacraments Christ forms us as his disciples. Through education, worship, outreach, and fellowship, accomplished through over 36 ministries and programs, Christ’s love is shared with our parishioners, our local community, and the greater Church. In this way we fulfill our stated mission, “to embrace our Lord’s challenge to live as family and to be his witnesses, beginning here in Chicago Heights.” Our recent parish planning process set important goals for our future. They include expanding and improving the parish facilities in order to sustain and grow our present ministries. We desperately need meeting space for larger and smaller organizations. The Women’s Club, Vincent DePaul, PTN, Adult Education, Religious Education, After-school care, Golden Agers, Scouts, athletic teams, and many, many other organizations and ministries compete for the same meeting space. We need to enlarge and upgrade our kitchen facilities. Breakfast Club, the school hot lunch program, PADS, Lenten simple suppers, funeral luncheons, athletic concessions, and many other groups regularly make use of our outmoded kitchen, refrigeration, and storage facilities. For over ten years St. Kieran School has relied on decrepit temporary mobile classrooms to house a library, music and art classrooms, storage space, and additional classrooms as needed. A committee has been working with architects from the Linden Group in Homewood to develop a master plan for the facilities of St. Kieran Church. The plan entails three phases: Phase I involves the construction of an addition west of Crawford Hall which would house a parish library and meeting space. The parish library would contain materials from the school library and religious education Office, as well as volumes on Catholic spirituality, theology, church history, and collections of audio and video tapes. This facility would be available to all members of the parish. Phase II includes the renovation of the kitchen with additional of refrigeration, freezer, and storage space. The construction of a great room on the east side of Crawford Hall will provide a meeting room for large groups, as well as a serving area for funeral luncheons, breakfast club, school lunches, and parish social events. Phase III calls for the creation of additional classroom space on the east end of the school. This would provide a science lab, art room, music room, additional classroom, and mechanical/receiving room, with possible basement storage. As a means of making this plan a reality, St. Kieran has entered the Archdiocesan Capital Stewardship campaign, A Time to Share. Stewardship affords the parish the opportunity to respond in faith to the challenge of our mission. More importantly, it allows God to work in our lives and guide us in doing His will. Over the next several weeks, you will be asked to prayerfully reflect on what God wants to do through you for our parish. The financial goal of our campaign is $1,000,000 over the course of the next three years, over and above our regular contributions to the parish. Phases of the project will be accomplished as our means allow, depending on the total financial support received. Generosity, enthusiasm, and sacrifice marked the first 40 years of St. Kieran Parish. Our response during this campaign will determine the future vitality and direction of our parish. The sacrificial gift of every parishioner, in proportion to their means over the next three years, will make this vision a reality. Please pray that each of us will courageously open our hearts to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the days and weeks ahead. Fr. Bill Eddy, Pastor (Top of Page)
On Friday December 21st, Kevin Larson, the chair of our Facilities Upgrade Committee and I attended a session of the Capital Projects Committee for the Archdiocese at the Pastoral Center. Our local Vicar, Bishop Joseph Perry, attended to support our presentation. The meeting was chaired by the Vicar General, Bishop Raymond Goedert, also in attendance were Jim Lago, Chancellor, and Tom Brennan, Financial Officer. Kevin and I presented our Parish Master Plan and fielded a few questions regarding the plans and our capital campaign. At the conclusion of the meeting we were given permission to draft further plans for Phases I and II and to begin construction as soon as the plans are approved! They asked us to return at a later time to consider Phase III. What a wonderful Christmas present for St. Kieran Parish! God bless you with health and peace in the year to come! (Top of Page)
Capital Campaign Thank You Letter From Fr. Bill Dear
Parishioners
and
Friends,
As
pastor
it
is
my
duty
on
occasion
to
speak
on
behalf
of
the
entire
St.
Kieran
Parish
community.
I
do
so
today
-
and
with
affection
and
delight!
Thank
you
very
much
for
the
generous
pledges
you
have
made
and
prayers
of
support
you
have
promised
as
part
of
our
“A
Time
to
Share”
Millennium
Campaign.
Your
commitments
helped
us
to
exceed
our
goal!
God
really
does
have
great
plans
for
our
parish,
and
your
gifts
of
time,
talent,
and
treasure
are
making
it
happen.
Know
that
you
are
remembered
in
my
daily
prayers
and
in
the
prayers
of
the
whole
parish
during
the
months
and
years
ahead.
Please
keep
me
in
yours. Sincerely
in
Christ, Father
Bill
Eddy
(Top
of
Page)
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