Parish Update from Fr. Sebastian

Dear Parish Family,

I pray your 4^th of July weekend was blessed and joyful!  I am writing this week with exciting news regarding the interior renovation of the Main Church.  We have been talking about this project for quite some time now and I am happy to inform you that construction will begin at the end of this month!  I am so grateful to Fr. John and his team for their dedication and hard work.  Their diligent efforts have brought us to this groundbreaking moment.  Fr. John has assured us that he will continue to consult on the project while pursuing his doctoral program at Notre Dame.

Danis Construction who completed the exterior renovation of the Church will be serving at the firm to complete our interior renovation.  Danis did an amazing job of maintaining the exterior construction schedule and brining the project in under budget.

The team from Danis has put together several scheduling options for our Building Committee to review.  A big question since the initial planning days of this project was the ability to maintain the Sunday Mass schedule during the duration of the construction process. After a careful study of the possible phases it has been decided that closing the Main Church for the duration of the renovation is the best course of action.  By closing the Main Church, we will save approximately $80,000 in construction costs and have the project completed in time for Christmas.  This was a very difficult decision to make but in light of the savings and the reduced Mass attendance we are currently experiencing our Building Committee felt this was the most prudent course to take.

While the Main Church is under construction, we will be using the Cody Center as a temporary worship space for both the daily Mass and weekend Mass schedule.   I am very grateful to the many liturgical volunteers and staff who have already begun the work of preparing the Cody Center. 

The last weekend Masses in the Main Church will take place on July 18^th & 19^th.

We will begin Mass in the Cody Center on Monday, July 20^th at 8:00a.m. 

The work of the Capital Campaign has been truly remarkable, and I am so very grateful to all those who have continued to financially support our many projects.  Our current pledge total is $5,081,613.00 and of this we have received $2,060,165.46.  We are making our way closer and closer to our goal of $6,000,000.00!  I am confident in our ability as Parish to achieve this milestone.  In the coming months, our Capital Campaign leadership team will be renewing our efforts to cross the six-million mark.  I am happy to announce Rick and Patricia Jones as Co-Charis of our Capital Campaign along with Dick and Diane Erickson.   Rick and Patricia have been members at St. Joseph for 25 years and we look forward to their valuable help in the coming months.

Sincerely Yours in Christ,

Fr. Sebastian