My dear family,

With all my heart I wish each of you the joy and peace of our Blessed Savior's Birth.

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So many people work so hard to make our Christmas celebrations beautiful at our parish - the liturgy, the music, the decorations, the different social events....well, the list could go on and on. Many thanks to you all!

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This week after Christmas, there are many beautiful feast-days: on the 26th, St. Steven the first-martyr, the 27th St. John the Beloved Apostle, the Holy Innocents on the 28th, and St. Thomas a'Becket on the 29th. All great feast days, and perfect for attending daily Mass!

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Because so many of you are at Mass today, and getting the bulletin, I thought that this would be a good time to share a bit more about the feasibility study we did on the new church complex.

As I shared before, about 80% of the parish feels that a new church complex is either urgent or very necessary. When asked about what they most like about the parish, the overwhelming majority say clergy, liturgy, preaching, teaching, and the parish ministries! When asked what they most feel needs improvement in the parish, the vast majority say PARKING!!!!!!!! And parish buildings.

The overwhelming majority feel that, despite the hard economic times, this is something the parish must do, and soon.

As you know, the total package of all the new buildings will cost about $16 million.  The Archdiocese requires that we raise half of the money, and then we can borrow the other half. The study showed that this parish could reasonably raise about $6 million in a capital campaign. The only thing that we have going against us raising more is that the study did not identify any individuals who would be able to make a "major gift" (like a seven-figure gift) to "jump-start" the capital campaign. Well, I could have told them that. I've been looking for millionaires in this parish for 16 years and still haven't found them! :-) This parish has never depended on rich individuals making major gifts, but on a lot of nice middle-class folks willing to give sacrificially to our parish.

So we will have to do this project in phases, as we are able to raise the money. The capital campaign will start its planning phases in January. With God's help, we will be able to do what He has put into the hearts of so many in this parish.

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The parish office will be closed this week, so that we can all "recover" from Christmas! But someone will be around to answer the phone, and the fathers will be about for emergencies.

Again, a blessed Christmas to you all!

Your father in Christ,

Msgr. Doug Raun