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Building News Chronicle |
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Rite of Blessing a New Church Site,
August 12, 2006 |
In 2002 we were surrounded by nothing but open desert up to the mountains. The population of Surprise was around 36,000.
▲ May 2007 grading began for the parking lot expansion and new church building pad. |
 By May 2005 we were being surrounded by new homes. The population of Surprise passed 100,000 by January 2007. On Feb. 16, 2007 we had 2800 registered families (6500 registered persons). June 2008, we had 3500 registered families, 8100 reg. persons. |
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Documents Pertinent to Designing the Church Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani, 2001. General Instruction of the Roman Missal Redemptionis Sacramentum, 2004 Instruction on Certain Matters to Be Observed or to Be Avoided Regarding the Most Holy Eucharist Sacramentum Caritatis, 22 Feb.2007 The Sacrament of Charity
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Photos & Images Our site and Temporary Facilities Concept drawings of our new church Construction Photo Album - April 2007 Construction Photo Album - June 2008 Design CCBG Architects, Phoenix Liturgical Environs, Phoenix Parish Building Committee Sacred Arts Committee Construction Team CCBG Architects, Phoenix ROWLAND Companies, Phoenix |
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| Construction |
Bullet Dates
June 12, 2008: The side walls and end walls are complete. Steel beams are being raised for the roof structure. |
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| Our History |
Our mother parish is Santa Teresita Catholic Church in El Mirage which was later split to form our parish. In the beginning, those who would become our future parishioners met for Mass briefly in a public school starting in November 1994. Then they moved Mass to meeting rooms in the retirement communities of Sun Village and Happy Trails and the attendance grew...and grew...and grew. Our Parish was established on July 1, 2000 with the guidance of our first pastor, Fr. John Coleman. For several months parishioners met for Mass at the Kingswood Parke Elementary School Gym in Surprise. Later, in the summer of 2001, two temporary buildings were placed on our 12.6 acre property at the corner of West Bell Road and Cotton Lane. We are currently still using these buildings as plans are being developed for permanent structures to serve the rapidly expanding community which includes land five miles to the east and to the west beyond the White Tank Mountains pictured above. We expect the parish eventually to grow to 4000-7000 households. On July 1, 2002 our new pastor, Fr. Hans Ruygt arrived and continued the formation of the Finance Council, Pastoral Council, Capital Campaign Committee, Building Committee and outreach to the poor, the homebound and other parish ministries. |
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Master Plan |
Our current Master Plan includes:
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Financial Status
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You will find capital campaign progress dollar amounts at the top of this page. Our First Capital Campaign got started in February 2002 and received commitments from parishioners to pay their pledge in 3-5 years. With the help of a professional fund raising consultant, we made every effort to meet personally with every registered parishioner. We encourage everyone to make a pledge to the campaign so that we can estimate our budget for construction projects. Pledges do not obligate the donor if their financial situation changes, but pledges are essential to planning and to getting a loan. We deeply appreciate the sacrifices donors make to help us build for our current needs and for future generations who seek spiritual nourishment in St. Clare of Assisi Catholic Community. We started a Second Capital Campaign in the Fall of 2004. We conducted this campaign without the help of a professional fund raising consultant and had some success. We have paid off our parish debt to the Diocese of Phoenix which loaned us money to establish the parish. On July 1, 2003, we paid off $850,000 of our $1.2 million debt to the diocese for buildings and properties. We paid off the loan for the rectory, the full cost of the property, the initial startup loan and a large portion of the site development costs and the cost of our administration building. We paid the remaining debt of $334,000 in February 2005. The church building continues to be owned by the Diocese for anticipated future use at another new parish site. We had to start paying rent for the church building in July 2006. The City of Surprise has given us a few extensions on the original "conditional use permit." We conducted our Third Capital Campaign in February 2006, Building Our Church of Tomorrow ...Today. We are very grateful for our neighboring parish in Sun City West, Our Lady of Lourdes Parish/Prince of Peace for joining us in our efforts to raise enough money to be able to start construction in fall 2006. Two other Sun City have also been supporting our campaign, St. Clement of Rome Church and Ss. Joachim and Anne Church. Our campaign goal is to reach every parishioner household. If you are not registered in the parish but wish to be called, please contact our parish office as soon as you can. We are very grateful for the many sacrificial gifts we have received. We conducted our Fourth Capital Campaign in January 2008 to catch up with all the newcomers to the parish. If you have not been contacted, please let us know. It's up to you! Financial support, is critical to the success of this project. Before we can get any loan from the diocese, we have to give evidence that we are able to handle the debt on the mortgage. When we build it, we will need to pay for monthly maintenance, utilities and mortgage. The diocese currently requires us to have 60% cash in hand for the project budget before it gives us approval. (This reflects a change that occurred Nov. 2006. Prior to this, new parishes like our own had to have 80% cash in hand before approval by the bishop. Older parishes with permanent buildings have different funding requirements.) This change put us in a better position which allowed us to go back to the drawing board and plan a better phase 1 project. This revised Phase 1 plan will allow us to build the parking lot expansion and to begin using the church. Completion of some interior elements such as stained glass windows will occur through the following years. |
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Planning Process |
A survey was sent to all registered parishioners at the end of October 2003. The office received 349 completed surveys. A report on the results was given to the parish in November. Parish Forum meetings were held on November 14, 15 and 16, 2003. Approximately 310 people participated and saw the architects' video presentation and attended the question and answer sessions. The vast majority favored the first construction phase to include the new church and not the multi-purpose building. Preliminary Plans were drawn in February 2004 for the new church floor plan and a model has been made. These were presented to the Diocesan Office of Worship and the Diocesan Office of Building and Properties. They made their recommendations to our new Bishop Thomas Olmsted for his approval or recommendations for modifications. These led to some refinements and changes in the master plan in July 2004. A Parish Forum on November 12, 2004 included a video presentation and scale wood model by the architects as well as discussions with parishioners. Our plans stood still for many months as we struggled with fund raising. In July 2005, an architect lead us through a planning process that involved the majority of the parish community by getting their input and educating them on the planning process. This generated a great deal of enthusiasm and kick-started our project. Many hundreds of parishioners over several weeks gave their feedback based on sketches and photos and plans presented. We thus determined that the parishioners preferred a more traditional design instead of the very modern buildings designed by a previous architect. We presented our new southwest styled plan to the parish in December which received enthusiastic support, then we presented the plans to the Diocese Building Commission, also in December 2005. They raised questions, gave suggestions and sent us back to the drawing boards for refinements. That process continued over several months. |
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DESIGN |
The design has developed through the years of this project as costs were weighed against desires. We worked with several architects and with the construction team to arrive at our 2008 design |
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