Prayerful Consideration to Assist Us in Completing the Church and Campus of Saint John
We are blessed to be back in our church, again whole with our enlivening faith environment. This new persistent message: Finish the Church, is our final push of the Capital Campaign, to complete the transformation of the entire campus and ensure our success for the next 30 years. While we have come far already, we will all need to work together to complete our vision of the new Saint John the Evangelist Catholic Church. Over these past few weeks, we want to give you an opportunity to learn where we stand, how we got here, and what we need to do as a Parish Family.
Our Parish Family has always responded to the needs of our community. From the moment the decision was made to create our Parish and we moved into the Naples Park Elementary School cafeteria through the fundraisers to create the Parish Activity Center and Claussen Family Center to our most recent endeavor to Build Our Future, Serve Our Past Capital Campaign. We have had a challenging road together these past years:
But we have now come to see the fruits of our labors. The Pulte Family Life Center is full of youth and adults laughing and engaging in activities every day. Our new church is open and has drawn praise at every level as a house that enlivens our faith. We are very blessed to have come through these years stronger than ever.
As we discussed last week, we took the opportunities presented to us with the Campaign and the damage inflicted on our campus from Hurricane Irma to complete our 5-Year Capital Plan and more all at once. The demolition from the insurance-approved repairs allowed for “future-proofing” of our campus, with special consideration for the safety and security of our Parish Family. We were able to completely overhaul the electrical environment, which will save money in the long run. We were able to put in surveillance and access control systems that are centralized for the entire campus, making it easier to protect every individual who enters our safe space. We did not just do “like-for-like” replacements of major components of our church. For example, the pews are substantially improved and provide over 1700 seats now, an increase in the total available seating. Most importantly, by executing all these repairs and renovations at the same, time, we avoided another church closure in 5 years from now if we were to undertake the renewal efforts that had been planned during the Campaign.
Altar houses first class relic of Saint Thomas the Apostle 
New Ambo is made to proclaim the Word of God to the entire church. 
New Lecturn for the Cantor is now off the Altar, allowing for full view for the Parish Family. 
Marble follows the aisle up the back wall of the Sanctuary. 
Another angle of our new statues. 
New Shrines provide additional prayer opportunities with votive candles.
All of this effort, however, did require additional investments that were over and above the $11 million gathered in the Capital Campaign. While the insurance did defray a component of this cost, the overall $16.4 million in construction on our campus in the last 2 years has left us with about $1.8 million left to fund. The Diocese has graciously assisted us in this effort, and will now allow us to fund-raise without impacting our CFA Assessment for the remainder of this shortfall. It is now up to us again, as we have done in the past, to rally together to Finish Our Church.
As part of this last component of our Capital Campaign (which, coincidentally, nearly matches our Pinnacle Goal from that original effort), we have some very unique memorial opportunities within our new church:
We ask that every member of our Parish Family prayerfully consider this opportunity to share in the joy of our new church and assist us in completing it. If you are so inclined, you may make a payment via our online system:
SJE Finish Our Church Online Giving
Or, by making out a check to Saint John the Evangelist with the memo line: Finish Our Church.
God Bless You All!