Building Faith Values and Excellence Campaign

Building Faith, Values

and Excellence

St. Susanna Catholic Parish

Meeting the Challenges created by God’s Gift of Growth

The case for our Capital Campaign 2015

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Building Faith, Values & Excellence

Campaign Committee Building Committee Futures Committee

Ray Nahlen, Chairman

Tony Buschman

Kandi Carson

Colin Donahue

Chuck & Roberta Fippen

Bart Fisher

Eloisa Garza

Charlie Giesting

Julia Mulholland

Tony Olejnik

Jim & Kelly Poole

Joe Sandifer

Michele Tillery

Bill Verhonik

Wally Carr, Chairman

Jackie Arnett

Dave Authenreith

Kandi Carson

Christina Collester

Colin Donahue

Bart Fisher

Tony Hartman

Tony Olejnik

Bill Verhonik

Mark Wilhelm

Bill Verhonik, Chairman

Tony Buschman

Paul Chiodo

Al Czyzewski

John Demerly

Colin Donahue

Bart Fisher

Steve Hulin

Kristy Keith

Bob & Nancy Klueg

Kathy Mallatt

Alex & Veronica Pfister

Rick Rosner

Joe Sandifer

Rich Sinks

Amy Uberto

Terry & Michelle Wiegand

Over the past two years, committees of your fellow parishioners have studied our growth and have

developed a sound, practical plan that focuses on essential needs. These improvements will accom-

modate the growth we’ve experienced and what we anticipate over the next decade

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Our Faith Community Is Truly Blessed

You misplaced your keys and left the house five minutes later than you should have. Despite your fervent prayers, every stoplight turned red upon your approach. Other drivers assumed the backup and flashing police-car lights on U.S. 40 signaled an accident, but you know better. Five minutes earlier, you might have had a decent parking space and a pew in the back. Now, you’ll park near Avon and feel the eyes upon you as you squeeze into an open spot in the third row.

Consider the source of your temporary discomfort on this beautiful Sunday: your Church is over-flowing with your brothers and sisters in Christ who have joined together with you to share in the miracle of the Eucharist. At a time when so many are troubled by the state of the world, our Lord’s house in Hendricks County is simply bursting at the seams.

We should rejoice. And we must plan.

Yours in Christ,

Reverend Glenn O’ Connor

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Each new move-in, every new school enrollment, and every baptism increases and strengthens our parish family. As our family grows, our capacity to serve God and make a positive impact on our world also grows. And, given that our home is in Indiana’s second-fastest-growing county, we can expect that growth to continue.

ONGOING PLANNING

These issues are not new, and Fr. Glenn and our lay leaders have been discussing them for years. Our Futures Committee has actively been planning to ensure that our parish is ready for growth, and our Building Com-mittee has worked diligently to identify the most effective ways for our facilities to serve our mission.

Strategies. Over the past couple of years, our leadership has created a strategic plan focused on four core directives:

Preparing today’s facilities to serve tomorrow’s needs,

Strengthening the Catholic faith of our children and adults,

Serving the community’s hunger for Catholic education, and

Sharing God’s love with the surrounding community.

Facilities. Using these directives as a basis, our Building Committee devoted countless hours to studying the options available to us. They developed a Master Plan that provides a fiscally responsible approach to meeting the needs of the next decade by providing the greatest flexibility for both the parish and our school.

Finances. Next, we engaged an experienced fundraising consulting firm to assess the feasibility of fund-ing our Master Plan. After carefully assessing the perceptions, perspectives, and intentions of parishioners involved in this study, the firm concluded that our parish was ready to move forward with a campaign to help fund these critically important improvements.

The Joys...and Challenges ...

Along with its joys, growth creates challenges. Some are obvious, such as crowded parking lots, standing-room-only Masses, and storage closets serving double duty as classrooms and meeting spaces. Many are less visible, such as a lack of meeting space. At the same time, the Archdiocese of Indianapolis is calling upon St. Susanna and neighboring parishes to collaborate in new ways so that we may make more efficient use of our re-sources and better serve the spiritual needs of Cath-olics in the area.

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...of a Growing Parish

PERHAPS YOU’VE WONDERED …

Q. Why not simply build a new St. Susanna elsewhere?

A. Our parish community has already made a substantial investment in building and expanding our current church and school. Even if suitable land with excellent access could be located and purchased at an affordable price (which is unlikely), the cost to build a new church and school would be staggering. After careful study, we believe it is far more prudent to serve the near-term future by expanding upon our current facilities.

Q. Why not just add another Hendricks County parish?

A. Many people think of parishes in terms of church buildings, but they are actually communities that require extensive resources. The investment to create another physical church and school elsewhere in the county represents only part of the total cost. Consider also that the retirement of priests and other religious has been outpacing the number of new vocations. In many parts of our Archdiocese, pastors are now required to simultaneously serve in several parishes. These factors explain why the Archdiocese is asking existing parishes to do more, rather than adding more par-ishes.

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Preparing today’s facilities to serve tomorrow’s needs

Even if future growth were not a concern, we would need to improve our current church and school facilities to address immediate needs. Simply put, our present facilities barely accommodate the education of our chil-dren and faith formation of our parishioners.

We need to add classrooms and multi-purpose space in both the school and church buildings to:

Create much-needed meeting and program space for current programs and ministries,

Allow us to offer more religious formation programs and family activities,

Provide greater flexibility in the use of the facilities, and

Improve building security during both day and evening programs.

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PARKING IMPROVEMENTS, TOO

Parishioners are well-aware that parking space for weekend Masses is at a premium, but they may not be aware that the recent installation of under-ground drainage allowed us to expand the parking lot by 110 spaces.

The number of families served by the parish has

grown 15% since 2009.


Q. Can’t we do something about that traffic?

A. While the very nature of weekend Masses means that everyone will arrive within a fairly short time frame and depart even more quickly, we do believe that adding an exit to the driveway at the Meijer store will help to spread traffic out and simplify travel for parishioners who will be heading north on Dan Jones Road.

Q. Can we use Duke Energy’s parking lot?

A. While Duke Energy is generous with the use of their parking lot during the annual Parish Festival, as a utility, they have security needs that would create a significant inconvenience for them. In addition, using their lot would force parishioners to walk even farther.

We plan to further improve the safety of parish-ioners and school families by:

Upgrading the lighting in the parking lot to improve security and visibility for drivers and pedestrians, and

Creating a rear exit to allow vehicles to access the Dan Jones Road and Main Street (U.S. 40) via the Meijer store’s driveway.

Parish Membership has increased 25% since 2009.

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Strengthening the Catholic faith ...

When it comes to meeting the spiritual needs of our parishioners, additional space for weekend Masses may be the most visible need, but it isn’t the most critical one.

We have a responsibility to inform and deepen the Catholic faith of the members of our community, so they can strength-en their own relationships with God and live fully as Christians in today’s world. Our religious education program and ministry groups provide both a founda-tion in faith and opportunities to serve.

Nearly 500 parishioners are involved in our religious education program, and many others are active in adult faith for-mation and other ministry groups. Sadly, these critical elements of our parish com-munity struggle to find places to meet and gather. They are often forced to move around to accommodate conflict-ing needs.

IN SUPPORT OF THESE MINISTRIES

We intend to expand our church building to provide additional space that can be used for many purposes, among them:

A space to accommodate groups of 100 or more for funeral meals, staff luncheons, baby and bridal show-ers, and wedding rehearsal dinners. This space could also be used by the choirs and musicians for rehearsal space when the church is not available and (with the addition of a sound system) as overflow seating for Christmas and Easter Masses.

An adjoining kitchen to accommodate these activities.

Dividable areas to accommodate religious education classes and ministries such as Faith Formation, Youth Ministry, PTP, Young in Heart, St. Vincent DePaul Society, Men’s Club, and Women’s Club.

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...of our children and adults


Q. Can’t we use Zore Hall and its kitchen for these activities?

A. During the school day, Zore Hall is already a busy place, serving as a cafeteria, physical education room, and overflow classroom space for the school. Outside the school day, it is used for CYO and other activities. When Zore Hall and the kitchen are needed for special events, such as a funeral luncheon, it creates a signifi-cant disruption for the school and the process of serving lunches to students.

Q. Isn’t the school vacant outside the school day?

While it’s true that many classrooms aren’t occupied when the school day comes to an end, they’re not condu-cive for many other purposes, especially meetings involving adults. Between student seating and instructional materials, there’s very little “free” space in most classrooms, and no adult seating. In addition, opening class-rooms to outside groups creates security concerns.

Religious Education enrollment has

increased 8% since 2009.

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Serving the community’s hunger

for Catholic education

While the growth is cause for celebration, it also creates many concerns. In simple terms, we are already be-yond the functional capacity of the school building. Specific examples include:

Many classrooms and common areas already serve double duty during the school day, and then play multiple roles in the evenings and weekends to meet the need of religious education and parish minis-tries.

Students are forced to eat lunch in shifts at one end of the gym (with class being conducted in the other end), as early as 10:45 a.m. and as late as 1:00 p.m.

Parish activities such as funeral lunches compete with student meal preparation.

State-mandated online tests are conducted in the library, cramming students into close quarters and providing minimal privacy.

Our single conference room must accommodate meetings, speech therapy, and a much-used printer, while doubling as storage space for religious education.

With no dedicated band room to accommodate a full ensemble (and storage), students rehearse in small groups in a storage closet.

We have filled every available space for storage of equipment and materials.

One of the most exciting developments in our parish commu-nity is the growth of St. Susanna School. Since 2010, enroll-ment has jumped by 10 percent, and we project that rate to continue. In recent years, we’ve served students and their families by expanding to 8th grade and adding a successful band program.

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EXPANDING FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW

To catch up with our current needs for space and provide additional room to grow, our plan calls for an additional 10,000 square feet of classroom and storage space, along with:

An additional set of larger bathrooms adjacent to the gym, al-lowing for separate restroom facilities for lower and upper grades, and providing changing areas for CYO programs,

A large multi-purpose area to relieve the over-scheduled current gym,

Improved safety and security measures, as well as a place to house children who become ill during the school day,

An additional dining area to reduce the time needed to serve students and to provide extra space for other parish and school activities, and

Cabinet storage in each classroom for religious education and school materials.


Q. Shouldn’t school parents bear the cost of expanding the school?

A. While it’s true that families served by our school receive the most direct benefit, the simple fact is that our school is an integral part of the larger parish community. Parents whose children attend our school are typically highly involved in other activities and ministries benefiting the parish as a whole. Our school also draws parents to St. Susanna, helping to grow our parish. Finally, as parishioners, we share the responsibil-ity to ensure that our community’s young people become knowledgeable about our faith, so our Church will continue to grow through future generations.

School enrollment has increased

10% since 2010.

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Sharing God’s love with the surrounding community

The additions included in our plan will support such outreach to the wider community, and provide much-needed space for the parish ministries that conduct outreach:

Groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and the Pain Management Support Group will have access to more adequate space with better security,

Boy and Girl Scouting programs will gain additional flexibility for both regular meetings and special events with less conflict with school and CYO events and programs, and

Parish ministries such as the St. Vincent de Paul Society, Bereavement Committee, CYO Sports, Men’s Club, Gabriel Project, Women’s Club, Parish Festival, and the Young at Heart will have spaces that are more suited to their activities.

These expanded and improved facilities will provide a foundation to support additional outreach to children and families in the community as both our parish and our school continue to grow.

St. Susanna exists not only as a destination at which parish families gather, but as a home from which we share God’s love with the community. Opening our facilities to outside groups that need meeting space gives us an opportunity to evangelize and encourage interest in our ministries.

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Q. Doesn’t Zore Hall and the Gathering Space provide adequate meeting space?

A. During the school day, Zore Hall is al-ready a busy place, serving as a cafeteria, physical education room, and overflow classroom space for the school. Outside the school day, it is used for CYO and other activities. When Zore Hall and the kitchen are needed for special events, such as a fu-neral luncheon, it creates a significant dis-ruption for the school and the process of serving lunches to students. The Gathering Space is not well-suited for smaller meet-ings, particularly for groups such as Alco-holics Anonymous that need a degree of privacy.

“In everything I showed you that by working hard

In this manner you must help the weak and remember

the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

(Acts 20:35)

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A prudent, efficient plan for today and tomorrow The plan we have developed addresses the four core directives mentioned earlier, including both the immedi-ate needs of our parish and school, and additional flexibility and space to accommodate the inevitable growth we shall see over the next decade. In addition to supporting our parish community’s own needs and programs, it will empower our efforts to serve the surrounding areas.

It is a prudent approach that will not only provide additional space, but also will increase the utility of our cur-rent facilities. It is a flexible approach that carefully considered when and how space is currently being used. Most important, it contains no luxuries. Every aspect represents a prudent strategy to address both immediate and longer-term needs.

WHAT WILL IT COST?

The estimated total budget for all of these capital improvements is $2.8 million. The amounts have been esti-mated by architecture and construction professionals, and assume that we will use sound, practical, durable choices in both material and construction. The total includes:

$1,050,000 for additional multipurpose space

This covers the addition of 7,000 square feet of dividable space for parish meeting rooms, funeral meals, youth and adult faith formation, and larger parish assemblies, as well as a small kitchen area.

$1,500,000 for additional classroom space

This covers the addition of 10,000 square feet of additional classrooms for the school and Religious Education programs, along with space for technology and storage.

$250,000 for traffic safety improvements and parking lot expansion

This covers the development of a new connection with the Meijer store driveway, allowing access to Dan Jones Road and Main Street (U.S. 40), along with related signage and landscaping. (A portion of these funds have already been invested in the expansion of the parking lot and drainage improvements.)

HOW WILL WE PAY FOR IT?

Because these are capital investments above and beyond the normal operating costs of our parish and school, we will undertake a special campaign to secure the resources through pledges from our parishioners and our friends in the community.

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Q. Are you planning to use expensive materials?

A. If you closely examine our current facilities, you’ll see that they have been constructed with basic, durable materials such as brick and block. We believe that the durability and safety provided by such materials makes them a practical, prudent choice.

Q. Isn’t that construction cost high?

A. While $2.8 million may seem like a lot of money, the construction cost is competitive for commercial con-struction.

*Master floor plan for our church

*Master floor plan for our school *Please note that these are preliminary drawings, and there

may be changes by the time construction begins.

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*Please note that these are preliminary drawings, and there may be changes by the time construction begins.

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*Please note that these are preliminary drawings, and there may be changes by the time construction begins.

Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure,

pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure

it will be measured to you in return. (Luke 6:38)

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Everyone must play a role A parish community is a special type of family, made up of diverse individuals who share a common faith. As Catholics, we share responsibilities such as regular celebration of the Eucharist, a willingness to learn more about our Church and our beliefs, and prayerfully living our lives as examples of Christ’s love. When our family has needs, we also share a responsibility to step up and help to the best of our abilities.

The plan we have outlined here really isn’t about bricks and mortar or buildings and grounds. Instead, it is about creating spaces that will allow us to embrace our Catholic faith and demonstrate our willingness to serve the Lord both within the parish and the surrounding community.

We have been blessed over the years by the hard work and sacrifice of so many staff, lay leaders, and parish-ioners. Their combined support has allowed our parish to thrive. Over the years, when they have been asked to give, they have responded generously.

It is now our turn to build upon the legacy they have created and prepare St. Susanna to meet the needs of this community well into the future. We ask that you give thoughtful and prayerful consideration to this vision for our parish and school, and join us in this important effort to better serve our current family and the many gen-erations to come.


Q. Shouldn’t the new families whose arrival has created this need fund it?

A. As part of a parish family, we all share the responsibility of meeting the needs of our par-ish and our school. At one point, we were all the “new” people who were a part of St. Su-sanna’s growth, and other parishioners stepped up to ensure that our spiritual needs were ad-dressed.

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We’ve been here before... In 1953, most of the ground around our community was rich agricultural land. As the population on the west side of Indianapolis grew into Hendricks County, the need for a new Catholic parish became evident.

That year, 84 families joined together to start St. Susanna Parish, with 80 children in six grades at the parish school. They sacrificed to build a school building, and joined many other families in the years that followed to build our beautiful church building. Later, many of those early families joined other newcomers to expand our church and school building to their current size.

St. Susanna has been at the center of Catholic life in our area for more than six decades, connecting families with the sacraments and each other. Today, our parish serves more than 1,300 families, with more than 500 young people participating in religious education and youth programs, and nearly 350 students in our school, which offers classes from preschool to 8th grade.

Thanks to God’s love and the abundance with which we have been blessed, more growth awaits us. Under the leadership of our pastor, Fr. Glenn O’Connor, our parish will continue to pursue a forward-looking approach to plan for and manage that growth. The plan described here is a crucial next step. We recognize that sacrifice is never easy, but it is necessary.

After all, we are more than a group of people who gather weekly for Mass. As a parish, we are a beacon of faith and fellowship in our community, and we will continue to pursue this vision as we plan for the future.

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“Every man shall give as he is able,

according to the blessing of the LORD your God

which He has given you.” Deuteronomy 16:`17

St. Susanna Catholic Parish

1210 East Main Street

Plainfield, IN 46168

317-839-3333

Documents

Building Faith Values and Excellence Campaign