St Francis de Sales

Parish

O almighty and eternal God

Who entrusted St. Francis de Sales Catholic

Church with the Mission

of “Making Disciples and Disciple Makers,”

We turn to you with grateful hearts for what you

have given us

and with great anticipation for what is yet to be.

Bless us as we work to strengthen the foundations

of faith

inspired by your Holy Spirit in our Parish.

Please guide us, strengthen us, and bless us with

your presence during this time of growth.

Give us each a sense of Mission,

a spirit of cooperation,

and a generous heart,

as we work to grow and preserve our Parish for our

immediate needs

and the needs of the future generations to come.

Amen

Our Campaign Prayer

History of St. Francis de Sales Parish

Early in 1841, John McCarthy bought a two-acre plot of land located on Granville near

Sixth Street. On May 21, 1842 the property was transferred to Bishop Purcell for the

use of the Catholic Church for the residents of Newark. Fr. Jean Baptiste Lamy, pastor

of Danville, who served Newark and surrounding missions, became pastor and built a

small church in honor of St. Francis de Sales.

In 1854, Fr. Frederic Bender became pastor and realized the need for a larger

church. A second building was built on the present site and a second story was added

to the original church building which was moved to the rear of the property and was

used as a school. A residence for priests was built on the corner of Pearl St. and Granville St., the for-

mer O’Boylan Hall.

By 1887, the parish had grown to over 2,000 parishioners and was regarded as one of the largest in the

Diocese of Columbus. Fr. William Hayes built a third church which we now occupy.

Fr. McGinty purchased the current residence for priests and

administration offices in 1946. It was renovated by Fr. David

W. Sizemore in 2018.

In 1993, under the direction of Msgr. Bill Johnson, the Lamy

Center was built. The building, connected to both the church

and the school, serves as a Parish Center and also houses

offices and classrooms.

The Swank Market was purchased in 2010 but no renova-

tions were able to be completed due to lack of funding. Two of the apartments are currently rented and

the Boy Scouts have been meeting on the main floor. The building has largely been used as storage for

the past 8 years.

The church has undergone several renovations, the most recent being 2010 with the internal redecoration of the church,

including refurbishment of the pews, painting, and new flooring. In 2012, the organ underwent a much needed and long

overdue refurbishment.

A New Beginning In July of 2017 Fr. David Sizemore became Pastor of St. Francis de Sales. A building audit was performed by the Dio-

cese of Columbus on the existing campus. The rectory was subsequently condemned. The Parish voted to renovate the

rectory with a $200,000 gift that Fr. Dave brought as a gift from his former parish; however this still left $1.2 million dollars

worth of backed up maintenance on our campus that needed to be addressed. Through a small push, in conjunction with

the Bishops Annual Appeal and a matching donor, the Parish was able to pave the parking lots and refinish both the Slat-

tery Hall and School roofs.

Meanwhile through the remainder of 2017 and during 2018, Fr. Sizemore met with groups of parishioners in homes at

least 3 times per week as a way to get to know the parishioners and asses the all of the needs of the parish especially in

areas of faith but also in desires for the future. During these informal dinners Fr. asked his host and their guest three

questions: What can you tell me about the past at St. Francis de Sales? What would you like to see changed in the pre-

sent? And finally, where do you see as the future needs of St. Francis de Sales?

St. Francis has experienced a tremendous amount of growth since the arrival of Fr. Sizemore. The Parish has added

over 300 additional people attending Mass on the weekend and we are now home to 1341 families and the Parish is still

growing. The Staff increased tremendously from 10 to 24 members, creating the need for more office spaces. Our Par-

ish School enrollment increased by 52 new students in the fall 2018 with 5 more students enrolled in January 2019 for a

total of 265 students. St. Francis de Sales Preschool has become very popular with almost 50 students, largely due to its

Montessori approach to learning and the introduction of Catechesis of the Good Sheppard. The Catechesis of the Good

Shepherd (CGC) is a way of religious formation for children ages 3 to 12, based on the Bible and the liturgy of the Catho-

lic Church. Our preschool is now a major feeder of students into the elementary school, which now presents the blessed

opportunity to provide 4 additional classrooms to take the school to 2 classrooms per grade, and additional space to ex-

pand Catechesis of the Good Shepherd into our school. In addition, the current school cafeteria and kitchen, with its anti-

quated facilities, is in serious need of updating, renovation, and expansion. Finally it is time to bring air conditioning into

our school, since its construction in 1925.

The parish’s mission is to “Make Disciples and Disciple Makers.” The Parish has increased its Faith Formation and out-

reach. We now have had over 400 adults attend Alpha, and 200+ adults involved in Men, Women’s and Couple’s disci-

pleship groups. Our programs such as Seeds of Faith, Grandparents Ministry, Ask, Prayer Ministry, and Fruit of the Vine

prayer group are flourishing. We now offer a monthly Eucharistic Adoration with Worship & Praise & Reconciliation Ser-

vice. The youth ministry serves over 110 high school and junior high teens each week. Our new Speaker Series has

brought in presenters like Scott Hahn & Deacon Harold Burke Sivers, and Chris Stefanick's “Reboot” was attended by

nearly 700 people. Our parish school of religion is also growing. For these reasons the parish needs to add more faith

formation spaces, large, medium and small rooms—to continue to provide for the growth in faith of our adults, teens and

children.

In addition needed to look at what our present needs are and what our future needs might be, so the parish spent some time doing

facility needs assessments with the help of the Building Committee consisting of Diocesan personnel, parishioners, Maintenance

Committee members, and Staff. The results demonstrated we needed to provide more spaces for the growth we have been expe-

riencing in faith and in our congregation and school. Thus, we realized the need for a capital campaign, not just to take care of the

past, but our present and future needs. In the Spring of 2018, God in His Providence, sent an anonymous donor with a family histo-

ry at St. Francis de Sales Parish and School. The Donor met with Fr. Dave and discussions began to create a proposal to help the

Parish meet the growing needs of the Parish and School. The building committee met with the donor, surveyors, engineers, an

architect and contractor, to come up with a Master Plan to meet the growing needs of our Parish and preserve it for generations

to come. The Master Plan was presented to the Parish’s leadership groups, such as Parish Council, Finance, Staff, Senior Leadership

Team, Teachers, School Advisory Board, etc. The Project will take place in 3 phases.

The current plans include building a new St. Francis de Sales “Faith and Family Center,” renovate parts of the Lamy Center, reno-

vate parts of the school, and address deferred maintenance projects. The total cost of the capital campaign would be $3 million.

The donor will make a $2million dollar gift! He and our parish hope this inspires all of our parishioners to contribute the additional

$1million during a capital campaign to help us care for our past, present and future.

Phase I—St. Francis Faith and Family Center —6,530 Ft.

The St. Francis Faith and Family Center will be located where the current “Swank Market” building sits on Granville Road, and the

front door will be located directly across from the front door of the Lamy Center.

• Auxiliary “worship” & conference room with an attached warming kitchen. This 100 person capacity space will be ideal for

multiple faith formation gatherings for adults and youth, community activities, funeral luncheons, and receptions.

• A smaller 20 person capacity meeting space ideal for discipleship groups and small meetings.

• A medium size 40 person capacity meeting space ideal for larger gatherings.

• 4 full size staff offices

• One large staff office with 4 additional staff work stations and a receptionist work station.

• One large storage space equivalent in size to a six car garage for our storage needs.

Phase II— Lamy Center and School Renovation

During this Phase Johnson Hall, Conference Room A, and the Faith Formation Offices will be renovated to include:

• Large 250 person capacity hall with a new commercial kitchen to serve as a school cafeteria during the day and a large social

hall for the Parish and its many faith formation and community activities during the evening and weekends with additional

storage spaces for the Parish.

The basements of the Lamy Center and School will be fully renovated to include:

• 4 new classrooms

• Boy Scout room with an attached storage

• Music room

• Art room with an attached room for the kiln and a storage closet

• Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Atrium and meeting space.

• In addition all existing and renovated school classrooms will receive air conditioning.

Divine Providence

Building for the Future—Caring for the Past

Phase III—Deferred Maintenance Items and Maintenance Reserves

As the largest Catholic Community in Newark, St. Francis de Sales Parish is a part of the rich history of Licking County. More im-

portantly the 8 large volumes of Baptism Record Books show countless souls brought to Christ through the ministry of this Parish.

The School as a ministry of the Parish has been educating young minds, forming leaders in the community since 1925, and ulti-

mately preparing souls for eternity . We are seeing a large number of our teens, young adults, and adults intentionally and active-

ly growing their faith in the multitude of parish programs. We desire to continue this good work here. Unfortunately much of the

structures and buildings on our campus are in need of repair due to the long list of deferred maintenance items. We hope to alle-

viate the maintenance issues that have mounted over the years and set up a Parish Maintenance Reserve Fund, designed to tackle

ongoing maintenance needs of the Parish. Taking care of these needs now will ensure that our Parish structures will have longevity

and continue to serve our community for generations to come.

Maintenance and Facilities Needs

Exterior restoration: washing, painting, tuckpointing of brick, wood replacement, and roof patching

Lightening protection for all buildings

Replace air conditioning units in Church (2 don’t work, 2 barely hanging on)

Replace storm windows at ground level

Replace and seal windows in offices and classrooms in Lamy Center.

Asbestos mitigated

Air conditioning in preschool and gym

Address and/or replace old plumbing in school building

Replace plumbing in Lamy Center mechanical room

Replace Church hot water tank

Replace Lamy hot water tank

Dehumidifiers for basement of Church

LED lighting for the interior of Lamy Center and School

Enclose and remove old showers in the Gym

Gym and stage repainting and refurbishing

Sanctuary carpet in the Church, Chapel and Sacristy replaced with hard flooring

Total Maintenance and Facilities Needs $ 700,000

Maintenance Reserves Fund Goal $ 300,000

The Cost

Phase I—St. Francis Family Center &

Phase II—School Lamy Renovation

$ 2,000,000.00 Com-

Phase III — Deferred Maintenance Needs $ 700,000.00

Phase III — Maintenance Reserve Fund $ 300,000.00

Total of All Projected Cost $3,000,000.00

The total cost of all three Phases is $3 million dollars. We want to start Phase 1 in the winter 2019 and Phase II in the spring 2019

using the the generous gift of our anonymous donor while we conduct a capital campaign in the winter through spring 2019 for

Phase III. Parish building projects rarely receive gifts like we have received. We are so BLESSED. We pray that this gift inspires all

of us as parishioners to make our own gifts so we can fund our growth for the present & future and preserve the past.

The generations of faithful Catholics before us provided a Church and Parish we

can be proud of —-now it is our turn.

All gifts to the Capital Campaign should be over and above your annual giving to the Parish through the Offertory. The Offer-

tory supports everything we do in the Parish on an annual basis, funding all of our ministries and outreach, faith formation

for adults, teens and children, music ministry & liturgies, staff salaries and benefits, utilities, regular maintenance on all

buildings and grounds, etc. During the pledge and redemption period of the Capital Campaign, the Parish will need to not

only maintain the current level of Offertory giving but each year ask parishioners to increase their Offertory giving modestly

in order to continue to fund the growth in our parish in faith and our community in hospitality and evangelization.

Preserving Our Foundations for Generations to Come

Saint Francis de Sales Parish has served the faithful Catholics of Licking County since 1841. We are a generational Church built

on the Faith of those before us. The proposed project is all about growing faith in our adults, teens and children, and provid-

ing for the needs of our community, both now and into the future, by caring for, renovating and expanding our facilities. By

meeting the needs of our parishioners, we continue to grow and prosper as a family, as a strong and unified faith filled com-

munity working towards our Mission of “Making Disciples and Disciple Makers.”

Please give prayerful consideration to Fr. Dave’s request and show your commitment to St. Francis de Sales Parish by making a

pledge to our Capital Campaign. For this effort to be successful it will require a sacrifice by each member of the Parish and

School Family — a commitment that is above and beyond your current annual financial support to the Offertory.

Tax Deductions—Under current IRS regulations, all contributions are tax deductible up to the fullest extent allowed

by law.

Electronic Fund Transfers—The Parish encourages the use of Electronic Fund Transfers (EFT) for the fulfill-

ment of our pledge. Please see the Letter of Intent for payment options.

Payment Reminders — Payment reminders are an alternative that can be used to fulfill your pledge. Please see

the Letter of Intent for Information on monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual billing options.

Appreciated Securities —Depending on individual situations, there may be significant tax advantages to contri-

bution appreciated securities or other assets. Please contact the parish office to further discuss this method of giving.

For More Information:

Maggie Wright, O.F.S.

Director of Accounting and Development

St. Francis De Sales Parish

40 Granville Street, Newark, Ohio 43055

740.345.9874 ext. 204