April 2, 2009

Father opened the meeting at 7 pm with a prayer asking for guidance in the building of our new church and hall.

Peter Goldsmith opened with discussion on where the exact placement of the new church and hall should be. Brad Mollet our architect was present. The committee agreed that we need to make this decision so we can move on with our project. Brad had the geographical layout of our present church, rectory, educational building and grounds. He also had our new church and hall plan. After much configuring with our present buildings and property we have to work with, the decision was made to place the new church south of our present church. The new church would be built facing east and the main entrance on the west.

Brad explained it would be in our best interest to work in two phases. By doing this we can continue with worship in our present facility while construction on our new church is going on. We will also be able to move our “diamonds in a new setting” along the way. We can utilize our present parking, saving a big expense. When our new church is finished, we can then proceed to tear down our present facility. At this time we can salvage and sell what need be from our old church. We will then start phase two by adding our new hall onto the new church which will extend north onto some of the property where our old church was. Father would like to incorporate a prayer garden that would be located between the hall, church and rectory.

Brad is working on a time line for the committee and a more detailed design for the parish to see. If everything falls into place and enough funds are raised we could possibly start construction in the spring-summer of 2010. Brad will be meeting with the Bishop soon to get things “rolling.”

Our estimate for building is 2.8 million. We need 1.4 million in funds in hand to start ground breaking. We are at 1 million to date. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could get our NEW CHURCH started the same year as our beloved Father Hemann’s 25th Silver Anniversary Ordination???!!!

There is a lot of excitement from our committee-hoping and praying for this attainable goal. We pray our parish family is as excited as we are with this project.

Our next meeting is tentatively set with Brad on April 28th. Father closed the meeting with a prayer and thanked us for our progress. Meeting adjourned at 8:30 pm.