Moving Forward in Faith - Extending God's Light
The Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Capital Campaign for Saint Elizabeth Church
With the inspiring generosity of our parishioners and benefactors, we are well on our way to securing the financial health of the parish community through 2025 and beyond. As of January 2, the anniversary campaign had received one-time gifts and muti-year pledges totaling more than $4.8 million from 576 generous donors. Equally amazing is the fact that we have now surpassed $3.4 million in total funds collected to date!
As announced in the original case statement shared with our parishioners in the fall of 2020, there are three critical funding priorities for the anniversary campaign:
Debt Reduction/Elimination: The parish has been diligently reducing our mortgage obligations so that regular income may be directed to sustain and grow our many active parish ministries. Since the outset of the campaign, we have completely paid off the church mortgage (in the amount of $617,126) and made advance payments on the education center mortgage ($880,000) while still meeting the monthly principal and interest payments from our operating income. Assuming the timely payment of the remaining campaign pledges, we anticipate paying off the outstanding mortgage with a combination of operating and campaign monies by December of 2024!
Restricted Parish Education Fund: We remain committed to offering faith formation programs for all parishioners and to providing an elementary Catholic education for all who choose it. To date, close to $170,000 in campaign funds have been allocated to cover the shortfall in operating expenses for the parish school, in addition to the annual parish subsidy to the parish school (currently $200,000 per year). As available, the campaign will provide monies to enrich program offerings, to sustain technology upgrades, and to provide tuition assistance to qualifying parish families.
Technology Development and Long-Term Maintenance Projects: Because the parish buildings and campus are nearly 20 years old now, we are currently conducting a Master Plan Facilities Study under the coordination of GKA Architects to assess facility needs and identify maintenance & technology projects to be addressed over the next five years. To date, more than $250,000 in campaign monies have been spent on maintenance & facilities projects, including a major overhaul of the HVAC system for the church and education center.
We are deeply grateful to everyone who has given their time, talent and treasure to this project as we move forward toward the celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of Saint Elizabeth Parish back in July of 2025. May God continue to guide our efforts to move forward in faith with a renewed commitment to extend God's light to others, both within and beyond our parish community!