Parish Report July 2014

Church Expansion Committee: Report to the Parish July 5-6, 2014

It has been about six months since the Church Expansion Committee’s last report and many new and exciting things have happened since. The committee has been meeting monthly and several sub-committees have been struck and they too have been working diligently to move things along. However, before reporting to you on the news…I would like to recap some of the information I presented to you previously and this will help to contextualize and frame today’s presentation:

Where we were:

• Last fall we interviewed and hired an architect, Andrew Baczynski from the IBI group;
• A design committee was struck and they began meeting with the architect on a biweekly basis last October;
• We assessed our parish needs and decided to expand our vision to address 3 major needs: worship space, meeting space and office space;
• Early in the process, we realized that these needs would probably have to be met in stages;
• We presented our report and received positive feedback and a lot of support.

Progress since our last report:

• After analyzing the financials with respect to our plans and in consultation with the Archdiocese, we decided to approach the expansion in two phases so that the First Phase would really focus on the essentials if it was to be financially viable and feasible;
• Beginning in February, we slowed down the design process in order to settle the big block location issues and the essential footprint of the expansion;
• We took time for reflection: this was necessary in order to decide what was really possible in terms of new construction—it is a very complex task when you must marry two different structures, old and new, in a way that is creative, thoughtful and still meets all the needs of the community and all the liturgical requirements;
• During this time we also came up with a Phased construction plan: Phase 1 will give the parish all the essentials and phase 2 will complete the vision;
• The architect was able to sort the whole plan into phases by Easter, last April;
• The design committee is currently working on design issues concerning the sanctuary and some of the exterior elevations;
• Nevertheless, we hope that the architect will have floor plans, renderings and elevations for your feedback, input and suggestions early fall.

Other Important Milestones:

• We have agreed to a tentative budget for Phase 1 of the project, the essential phase, of $3.2 million and this has been approved by the Archdiocese;
• We submitted our proposed design plan and budget for approval by the Archdiocese and we await the final word by the Archdiocesan Art and Architecture Committee in the fall;
• We interviewed and hired fundraising consultants and we await their input at a meeting we will have with them in the next few weeks;
• The communications committee of the CEC submitted their plan to the CEC and it was accepted. We now have a LOGO and taglines. The slides that follow showcase the project LOGO, slogans and taglines.

            So, these are some of the highlights of all that has taken place since we last reported to you. We ask that you continue to ask the Lord to bless our work as things unfold in the coming months. We also ask you to pray for the success of the Church Expansion project to address the needs of our Catholic community in Stouffville. Thank you for your time and support. We look forward to reporting to you again in the fall with some plans to share…

Click on the link to print a copy of the Parish Report July 2014