WHAT SPECIFIC RENOVATIONS ARE PLANNED FOR THE CHURCH?Cardinal Blasé Cupich was our pastor when we last over-hauled the church, with work done on the pews and kneelers. That was thirty years ago in the late 80’s. It is time to invest in our church home so that we will have an environment for worship which remains pleasant and inviting.

Kneelers - The kneelers are so worn there are tears in them, and the nuts and bolts needed to fix them are hard to come by. Fr. Del has said that at his last parish they replaced the kneelers with much thicker pads and everyone was so grateful for the extra cushioning -- they wanted to pray all day long on the new kneelers!!!

Pews - In certain areas of the church the pew seats are splitting, starting at the end and headed to the middle. When you hear a loud creak as someone sits down, that pew is splitting. For now, we have reinforced them in places. Since the pews will be removed when the carpet is pulled up, it is a perfect opportunity to repair and refinish them.

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Sanctuary - Fr. Del would like to make some modifications to the sanctuary and those ideas are being drawn up by the architect for consideration. There is original tile under the old carpet; we are exploring restoration or replacement options for the tile.

Flooring – The carpet in many areas of the church is very worn down. If you look in the pews, sections are thread bare and the seams are showing in many places. We are considering a mix of tile (under the pews) and carpet in most of the aisles. Tile is much easier to maintain and will last longer than carpet.

Lighting - The lighting in the church has been a challenge in recent years. Fr. Del first noticed this when he started saying 7:30 morning mass on Sundays. He saw that some parishioners needed to sit directly under the light fixture in order to see the missal. As a result, he began to ask “what can we do right away to make it better before we begin the renovations?” For now, we switched out the bulbs in the main body of the church. Although not optimal, the light disperses further out rather than straight down. During the church renovation phase of the campaign additional lightening will be added.

Restrooms - The restrooms in the North Transept will be renovated and expanded to better accommodate the needs of our very active parish.

Cry Room - It is our hope that enough funds will be raised through the campaign that we will be able to address the specific needs of the cry room and its restroom.

Paint - The Steier study results found that parishioners are split almost in half regarding the interior color of the church. Since the church was professionally painted less than a decade ago, our current efforts will focus on addressing items in the church which need immediate attention, particularly those functional aspects of our interior space.

Church Flooring

Church Pews

WHY ARE OTHER PROJECTS PRIORITIZED ABOVE THE PARISH CENTER IF IT IS SO OFTEN USED FOR PARISH MINISTRIES AND FUNCTIONS? During the Planning Study held in December, parishioners identified a number of other projects as a higher priority than renovations to our Parish Center. The Parish Center renovations will still be a part of the campaign, provided enough funds are raised to cover them.

WHAT IMPROVEMENTS ARE PLANNED FOR THE KITCHEN IN THE PARISH CENTER?Because of the high usage of the Parish Center kitchen, it is our hope to raise enough funds to cover the cost of a new dishwasher, new kitchen cabinets and a replacement of the floor throughout the Parish Center. A new dishwasher is greatly needed as it dates back to the 1950’s. There are funds that were raised years ago which have been set aside, so we already have a good start on getting a new dishwasher.

WHAT IS THE VALUE OF USING CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ELIMINATE OUR RELATIVELY SMALL PARISH DEBT WHEN THERE ARE OTHER PRESSING NEEDS?Prior to our recent roof replacements, (the church flat roofs, the Dominican Center, the Rectory) our parish was debt free. When Fr. Del arrived in 2016 the roofs were leaking so badly there were buckets in many places in the church. Having come from the rural areas of Nebraska, he knew that when the roof leaks in a barn and is not attended to, the whole building falls in! We felt these repairs were an immediate need and we borrowed the funds to do it. We strive to be fiscally responsible with all of our resources and see value in returning to our debt-free status, so that future contributions can benefit St. Mary’s, rather than be directed to debt reduction. This campaign will help us achieve this goal.

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Parish Center Floor

Parish Center Floor

Parish Center Dishwasher