Inside this Issue:
Continuing the Tradition
Since 1948, St. Francis de Sales Parish has ministered to the Catholics of Norton Shores. After 40 years in our new church, parish leadership looks to continue providing opportunities for current parishioners to grow spiritually and to welcome new families into the parish community .This requires us to be good stewards of the facilities entrusted to us to keep them functioning and in good repair .
Having facilities that are comfortable, accessible and welcoming not only enhances the lives of current parishioners, but welcomes visitors and new parishioners.
By maintaining our current church facilities, we also honor those who sacrificed to build them and began the important work of St. Francis de Sales Catholic community.
Creator Spirit,
you gave our forebears the vision and gifts to build St. Francis de Sales church forty years ago. Help us to both preserve and build upon this legacy.
You call us to be your People, the Church. Bless our mission and ministry and help us to provide for the places to gather so that we may worship your Name, serve one another in charity, grow in our faith, reach out in service and be a beacon of your Spirit's presence.
Show us how to be generous with your gifts and to make use of our time, talent and treasure to further the work of your kingdom,
We make this prayer in the name of Jesus who is our rock and cornerstone, our door and our dwelling place, now and forever.
Amen.
We're starting our facility needs campaign
We've been talking about and are now starting the campaign to fund our facility needs. For over a year, a parish task force has carefully studied the facility needs of our parish. The task force has identified and earmarked facility items needing attention to maintain and enhance the important ministries our facilities enable. A campaign cabinet is being formed under the leadership of Paul Kuharevicz, Paul LeRoux and J. Griffith as campaign co-directors. As pastor, I thank them for their leadership and ask that we all pray for them and support them when asked to become involved.
The Challenges:
The roofs: The church roof, the second roof in its 40-year history, is leaking and needs replacing before any damage occurs to the church structure. The office roof is the original and also needs to be replaced as it is beginning to fail and leaks are becoming common. Look at roof photos.
Heating & cooling: The boiler is original with the church, very costly / energy inefficient AND operating on "borrowed time." The boiler needs to be replaced and the ventilation system needs to be re-worked. While re-doing the ventilation system, air conditioning can be added cost effectively. Look at heating and cooling photos.
Wall cleaning: The church's interior walls are in desperate need of cleaning. Scaffolding is required to reach the necessary heights for cleaning in order to not disrupt liturgies or remove pews. Look at wall photos.
Church lighting: The current interior church lighting is inadequate, causing poor visibility beyond the center. Lighting also lacks flexibility for special liturgies and capabilities to enhance our worship experience, i.e., dimming, partial church lighting, etc. Look at lighting photos.
Physical limitations: ALL persons are welcomed at St. Francis, but anyone with hearing loss finds it very difficult to hear in the church. Also church offices are inaccessible to anyone with physical limitations. Look at physical limitations photos.
Church carpeting: Current carpeting is worn, stained and needs to be replaced to keep our church attractive and welcoming. Look at carpeting photos.
Future Parish Center: Wilma hall is heavily used, difficult to access by crossing McCracken, constantly in need of repairs and doesn't meet all our parish social needs. Replacing Wilma hall with a new parish center is needed sometime in the near future, as originally planned by the parish master-site plan.
View photos of needed upgrades.
