Christians have the duty to proclaim the Gospel without excluding anyone. Instead of seeming to impose new obligations, they should appear as people who wish to share their joy, who point to a horizon of beauty and who invite others to a delicious banquet. It is not by proselytizing that the Church grows, but “by attraction”. – Pope Francis
Pope Francis has asked for the Catholic Church to come up with new ways to engage both the Parish Family and the entire community with the love, joy, and healing of our faith. For some of you, this may be the first time you have been hearing about our Capital Campaign to Build Our Future, Serve Our Past. Others of you may have read the past 62 weeks of these articles I have been writing, presenting all the background, direction, and updates over this past year. We are so blessed to be able to say:
- We have met and exceeded our initial goal for the construction of the new Life Center. This building, which will house a set of constant activities for all ages, including food services, wellness programs, sports, social activities, music events and countless other functions. We have begun the construction planning. We expect to break ground this year.
- We have been granted the approval of Bishop Dewane to bring in NET Ministries (http://www.netusa.org) as full-time, programmatic support for our Youth Programs. This missionary group will enable us to go out where the youth of our community are and spread this joyous message while building a new focus for youth, our Catholic Youth Organization. They are the future of our Parish Family, and the Catholic Faith.
- We have so much more to do. Our Pinnacle Goal for our Campaign is $14 million. The needs we are focusing on now include our church, our Ballroom (since those are some of the places you may be sitting right now), as well as the parking lot and the rest of the campus.
We continue to develop and while we have begun the work our current blessings have allowed us to accomplish for the Build Our Future, Serve Our Past capital campaign, we still need our entire Parish Family to give in order to reach our additional goals. If you have any questions, please contact Joe Lichwalla, the Campaign Coordinator at 239-495-2001 or email: [email protected].
You can also learn more information about the Campaign at: www.sjecc.com/future