This morning's article in The Leader shares the good news that Providence Housing Development Corporation has withdrawn its purchase offer for St. Vincent's Church.
The Leader mistakenly reported the sale price "being discussed was $350,000." Actually, PHDC upped their offer to $475,000 after a new appraisal was done.
So now the issue of our church's fate goes back to the facilities and finance councils, according to the article. Originally, the plan was to keep both St. Vincent's and St. Mary's.
May this be a God-given opportunity to come together to heal our parish. What could be better than to commit to keeping our churches and to make sure the necessary repairs and maintenance are done so our parish churches remain for generations to come.
The power of prayer.
ReplyDeleteaccording to the Corning Leader St Vincents needs new steps. Suggestion: Have an envelope stating repairs to steps of St V's and I will bet you will have more than enough to fix steps and any other repairs to St V's. Discard envelope July 12 for emerging churches and lets get St V's repairs done.
ReplyDelete12:45, I totally agree. Part of the problem is that everything seems to go in one fund. The financials are not clear. And there's a regular collection for parish improvements - what is that for if not to make these repairs?
ReplyDeleteOk great idea! I nominate you to stand in the back of church before each of this Sundays masses with a basket that reads, "$ for St V STEPS." I'm going to say that you would have more than enough to do the steps by the end of the day. Time to stop hiding behind anonymous and put your good intentions into action. It has been stated over and over that those who represent SOP would not be allowed to do this type of thing. The administration has them labeled. SOP needs the parishioners to come forward to show their support.
ReplyDelete4:21 But aren't you hiding behind "anonymous"?
ReplyDeleteIf there is $ to hire new staff, there is $ to fix the steps. How silly to suggest otherwise.
ReplyDeleteI think there has been a whole lot of support out there. It has been quiet, and often anonymous, but nevertheless it was out there.
ReplyDeleteThe real work is yet to begin -- that of working with parish leadership to get a firm commitment to budget accordingly so that our churches can be maintained. The suggested plan for our parish in the column at right still stands: balance the budget, plan and implement a capital campaign for improvements, recommend parish social activities that build community and attract new and non-active members, conduct family-inclusive fundraisers for ministries and general parish needs.
Susan is right that our parish meetings need to be open -- this was the case in past years, and it should continue to be the case. That alone would help bring this parish back together again.
It is obvious that this administration has no intention of working with the parishioners. As early as this week, a closed meeting was held with the parish council members. The council members were told at the meeting not to share information regarding the future of St. Vincents Church. Now how can this be a good thing? It was my hope that with some new blood on the parish council that we might start to see some honesty and transparency in church matters. I pray that these new members of the parish council will not be told what to do and how to think that one of them will have some backbone. We havent saved our parish as of yet; for now we just have Providence Housing out of the picture.
ReplyDeleteSadly, I have to agree with 1:47.
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