Greetings in Christ! Well, we have had the town hall meetings and revealed the new plans for our church and I am so very blessed by the excitement that seems to be accompanying these plans.
I was asked a lot of questions about why I changed the plans and what my priorities were in changing them, so I thought I should review.
As we’ve stated in the past, the plan we were given was approaching $5,000,000 in cost and our budget was closer to $3,500,000. That’s the reason we changed it: we had to.
Why “flip the Church”? Because the easiest way to save money is to save space and our sanctuary took up a disproportionate amount of space. It was precisely removing the sanctuary space and flipping the Church that saved us so much money. Beyond that, it gives us a chance at a smaller, more intimate sanctuary and more seating space for God’s People in the nave.
My priorities in redrawing this plan were to enhance the dignity of our worship space. My goal was and is to inspire awe, reverence and warmth. Our Church exists for God and because of God and it was my hope to make something that would communicate that. The plan allows us to focus on the Blessed Sacrament and the Crucifix, as well as in the symbols and signs in the window: these are the things that the Church exists for.
By adding a gathering area, we accomplish the good of having a place for people to greet each other, laugh and cry if necessary without the guilt or worry of disturbing people in prayer inside the Church proper. Once we move into the rebuilt Church, we will work hard to train ourselves for quiet reverence in the Church and joyful noise in the gathering area.
These choices had consequences that I want to address in order to hopefully soothe any anxiety. We’ll look at these two issues now:
The Organ Pipes
With the rebuild of the church, we have it completely set up for us to move the organ pipes to the front of the church: It’s ready to go. The thing that is lacking is money: a lot of it. It’s not simply a matter of moving pipes from A to B. There is a lot of machinery and engineering that’s going to need to go into it. We have created space for the machinery and for the pipes and we will have all the electricity and plug-ins ready to go. When the church is completed we will have an account set aside to raise money to move the organ pipes, as well as some other things that we weren’t able to afford right now (baptismal font, parking lot, etc.). We are blessed to have access to the person who assisted in the organ pipe install: he is guiding us and helping us and it is a blessing.
Kids at Church
I’m a big believer in having kids at church. I do not mind if they are loud, I do not mind their tears or laughter and I believe that dealing with such things while we pray is a normal and even healthy part of the Christian life.
With that, I do understand that some of our parents would like a place to take their kids if they feel like the distraction has reached a point that is prohibitive to prayer.
To that end, our new gathering area will provide us with a space where concerned parents can take their kids, should they choose. Those in that area will be able to participate in the Mass but not fret about noise, if that is something they feel called to do.
I’d like to close this out by offering us all a challenge that my Mom gave me when I was a younger man. When we see or hear of something we don’t like, it is important to ask, don’t accuse.
It’s a simple aphorism that can make life much more pleasant for all involved. How does it play out? When we look at the plans and do not see the organ pipes where we would like them, we can simply say “what’s going on with the organ pipes?” If we do not like the answer, then we can ask “why did we make that decision?”
This is a practice that follows the dictates of our Christian faith: we treat each other with dignity and we assume the best.
To simply come out swinging and assume incompetence, apathy or wickedness is destructive to Christian community and to our souls and frankly, it’s a sin.
Change is hard on all of us and times such as these require our best. I am going to pray for myself to be patient, loving and kind and I invite us all to do the same.
I invite you to join me in joyful anticipation for that which is coming. By this time next year, it’s quite possible we will all be praying together in our new place: how amazing is that?
If you haven’t given to this rebuild and you would like to, please pick up a Building Fund envelope in the parish office or you may use Pushpay (select Building Fund) – see below for more Pushpay information.
May God bless our efforts through the intercession of St. Joseph the Worker!
fjk
We are excited to announce an update to giving at Holy Family! This new platform, Pushpay, allows you to easily give a one-time gift or recurring gift, and you have the ability to give from your smartphone anytime and anywhere.
With Pushpay, you can:
• Give easily, quickly and securely
• Give recurring donations
• Login to your account and see your giving history
To get started, you can click on “Donate” on the top bar or text COTHF to 77977.