ST. MARY OF LOURDES/ST. JAMES
BUILDING NEEDS
This is a synopsis of the needs and conceptual building plan as envisioned by the Advisory Planning Committee.
What do we want the building and the site to say to us and about us as a religious community?
1. Gather information about the future needs of our parishes.
2. Gather information about the physical space required to meet the future needs.
1. The Planning Committee held its first meeting on June 4, 2001. At that meeting:
· Gary Loertscher was chosen as chairperson.
· A monthly meeting format was established.
· Membership of the committee was established to include a cross section of people from our parishes.
· A decision was made to have all meetings open to anyone who wishes to attend.
Scenario #1 Construct a church with a seating capacity of 600+ people.
- large foyer
- side chapel, cry room, reconciliation room
- fellowship hall
- 8-12 classrooms
- 3 office spaces
- kitchen
- lounge/library
- pastor’s apartment
6.5 acre site (option to purchase additional 2 acres); access from Frederick St. and Hwy CC: village has plan to extend Frederick Street south to access this property.
Appropriate parking, sheltered unloading/entrance, walkway(s).
Natural , low-maintenance landscaping (possible prairie gardens utilizing local resources).
Warm, simple, low maintenance, but nice building materials/surfaces.
Technological and acoustical consideration.
Integrate existing stained glass, statuary, bell into new site.
Full basement; utilize site slope to allow ground-level access to both church and basement: minimizes handicap access costs; allows 2 major events to run simultaneously and independently.
Maximize multiple use of spaces for efficient utilization of square footage.
Sell existing church, house, and property.
Scenario #2 Construct a church with a seating capacity of 600+ people at the new site with parking, access, and landscaping.
Design so that fellowship hall, classrooms, offices, kitchen, etc. can be added on and integrated into this structure at a later date.
Maintain/remodel existing church to provide all support facilities/services.
1. Four masses are scheduled each weekend at St. Mary of Lourdes/St. James. (This is one more mass than the three recommended by the diocese). Despite the extra service, Masses are often overcrowded with people having to stand.
2. Parking space is limited at the existing sites: St. Mary’s is in a residential neighborhood and must be aware of being a “good neighbor” in terms of traffic flow and on-street parking.
3. Religious education classrooms are too few in number, undersized, acoustically deficient, and lacking in electrical outlets, projection screens, writing boards, technology ports, etc.
4. Parish hall/kitchen undersized for large weddings, funerals, parish dinner, etc.
5. Lack of office space.
6. Lack of storage space.
1. Growth of parish and overcrowding of facilities; indications of even more dramatic future growth include Belleville’s rating as the #1 suburb in Dane County and construction of a $110 million research park in the neighboring community of Verona.
2. Donation of building site land to the parish; Phil Fahey family has donated 6.5 acres with option to purchase 2 more acres; donation has a 10-year window; located east of CC on south edge of village.
3. Need to update and upgrade facilities.
4. Shortage of priests; diocese cluster plan directing Belleville and Verona to share a priest if number of clergy continues to decline and for Belleville, Verona, and Oregon to share one priest in case of severe shortage; faced with the possibility of 1 Mass per weekend; St. Mary’s/St. James needs a church large enough to withstand a substantial increase in attendance per Mass: 103 priests in Madison diocese, projected to be 85 in 2006; in 2002, 10 retirements, 3 ordinations, and 2 returning from military duty.
5. St. Mary of Lourdes serves a large geographic area, and this area is showing a substantial increase in population: only 3 Catholic parishes in Green County (mission parishes in Dayton and Brodhead, full-time parish in Monroe); St. Mary/St. James serves an area extending down through New Glarus and Monticello toward Albany and then up toward Oregon, Verona, and Mount Horeb.
6. St. James faces an uncertain future if priest shortage continues; bishops are politically reluctant to close a parish, but instead implement limited Mass schedules (for example monthly or quarterly); bishop and St. James parish council responsible for future decisions about St. James.
1. Building site has sewer and water access: probable street access from CC and Frederick Street; working closely with village on this site; some members of Planning Committee also members of Village Board.
2. Diocese requires half of funding to be raised before building starts.
3. St. Mary of Lourdes built in 1956, parish hall added in 1969; this building has served us very well for nearly 50 years; plans for a new church must reflect the same type of longevity.
4. Seating capacity of St. Mary’s is 240.
5. St. Mary’s/St. James has 516 units (envelope holders). Each unit averages approximately 3 people.
6. A timeline of 5 years is being projected for building. This will include the major steps of preliminary planning, architectural involvement, fund raising, construction documents, bidding process, and construction.
7. 750-800 people attend Mass at St. Mary’s/St. James per weekend.
8. Religious education enrollment is approximately 400 young people.
9. St. Mary’s has an annual income of $225,000; $70,000 in savings; $100,000 in a startup building fund, and no outstanding debt; not having a parish school reduces pressure on the operating budget (despite tuition, all parish schools are underwritten considerably by their respective churches); major savings for us because of the generous donation of land; we are in sound financial condition.
10. Condition of the existing church/parish hall/parish house is good: property more marketable because of condition.
11. Remodeling/expansion of existing structure does not seem feasible because present site is “land poor”, cost of remodeling is high, and land has been donated for a new structure.
1. The Planning Committee has reached the point where it needs architectural input to take the information we have gathered and translate that into a preliminary drawing and estimated costs (this is called a feasibility plan).
2. Timeline indicates the feasibility plan will be completed by late fall, 2002; at that time, at least 2 evening meetings for all parishioners will be conducted to present the feasibility plan, all other information, and answer any questions.
3. At that time, parishioners will give a “thumbs up or a thumbs down” for the project.
4. After a year of gathering and analyzing information and of exchanging and discussing ideas and concerns, it is the consensus of our 30-member committee that it is time to build. HOWEVER, THAT IS NOT THE COMMITTEE’S DECISION TO MAKE; THAT WILL BE THE PARISHIONER’S DECISION SOMETIME IN LATE FALL, 2002.