Church Building Update

03-15-2021Weekly Flocknote MessageFr. James Aboyi, V.C.

As you might have noticed, we suspended giving updates and announcements regarding the progress of our "Living Our Faith, Building Our Home" Church Building Campaign for over a year as a result of the pandemic. This was to be sensitive to the plight of many of our parish families who were directly affected by the pandemic. Within this time period, we were continuing to evaluate the progress of the Campaign redemption, while the Building Committee kept working hard behind the scenes to monitor the rising cost of building materials.

Thank you for your patience, prayers and understanding through this challenging time. As the rate of viral infection declines, we believe this is a good time to resume sharing with you all that has been happening with the Campaign over the past year.

A brief note for our new parishioners: We started a capital campaign to build our permanent Church in April 2018. The campaign was successful, reaching our goal of $3.5M by pledge. We are currently within the period of pledge redemption which will end in August this year. Our plan was to “break ground” this 2021 and move into the new Church in 2022.

Early last year, we encountered a problem; our application for permission for the building site zoning was rejected by the City of Phoenix. This was a major setback as it required us to relocate the building site. Given the limited space of land available, this was not a feasible option. In addition, the rising cost of building materials, along with the significant financial impact felt from the pandemic, gave us pause.

After much prayer and reflection, I asked the Building Committee to explore an alternative plan that would enable us to move ahead, keeping in mind the resources available to us and a timeline that would not put our parishioners on hold for too long. A creative, alternative plan was developed and has since been presented to the Parish Pastoral and Finance Councils. Members of both Councils approved this new plan and gave their endorsement to move forward with it.

This plan was presented to our St. Benedict Parishioners at the end of all Masses this past weekend. Although this updated plan looks different from what we all originally committed to build, I appeal for your continuous support as we move in this positive new direction. The alternative plan is estimated to cost $4.3M. This is good news since it is less than half of the projected cost of the original plan. Adding to the good news is that the alternative plan is realizable within our current building timeline.

I invite you to join us for an evening session of Questions and Answers regarding the Building project on Monday, March 15th, at 6:30pm in the Church. This event will be live-streamed on our parish YouTube Channel. Those participating virtually are invited to send their questions through the chat or send your questions by email to me at: fraboyi@stbenedict.org. I appreciate your continued prayers for God’s guidance through the remaining steps of the campaign project.

Retirement of our School Principal

We were all surprised to hear the announcement of the retirement of our St. John Bosco School Principal, Mrs. Petitti last week. Her excellent leadership will be greatly missed on our school campus. It is hard to see her go, but I am also happy to see her beginning a well-deserved retirement. Mrs. Petitti has dedicated nearly 30 years of service to the Catholic education in the Diocese of Phoenix. This is the dream of any educator, to serve well and happily until retirement. Mrs. Petitti’s last day at the school is June 30th. I’m grateful to her for her willingness to assist me, and the school administration, in the transition and search for a new Principal. We will be planning a special Thanksgiving Mass for Mrs. Petitti before June 30th. I will share the date with you in the weeks ahead.

Via Christi Society Mission Appeal

As we announced last weekend, we will be having a second collection next weekend to support the Mission of the Via Christi Society. For those who may be hearing this name for the first time, the Via Christi Society is the Religious Society that Fr. Wilfred and I belong to. Our Promotion Director, Fr. Martin Amana, will be visiting our parish and celebrating all the Masses next weekend to thank you for your support to the Society. I will have what is called a “pulpit exchange” with him, so that I will celebrate all of his Masses at the Sacred Heart Parish located in Parker, Arizona.

I will be back in town in time for “St. Benedict Day at Chick-Fil-A” on Monday, March 22nd. Remember to join us!

Have a wonderful weekend and remain blessed

.Fr James Aboyi, VC

Pastor