OUR LADY OF CONSOLATION

OUR LADY OF CONSOLATION

PROJECT INTRODUCTION Dear friends, The Master Planning Committee and I are seeking your valuable input on the Master Plan for the Our Lady of Consolation campus! Your insight and participation in our planning process is the single most important component to a successful capital project experience. You may have already read about the capital project in the bulletin, attended a town hall meeting about the project or had a conversation with fellow parishioners. As a complement to the information shared at the town hall meetings and in the bulletin, attached is a comprehensive overview of our long-term master facilities plan, estimated costs, architectural drawings and a link to an anonymous project response survey. As a refresher, the document used to develop the Long-range Master Plan is the Strategic Planning Map (SPM), developed in May of 2014. The SPM identifies the strategies necessary to move forward our mission and live out our vision. Guided by the Holy Spirit, we are ready to move our plan forward! Please review the project information prayerfully and provide us with your thoughtful input through the survey link provided below and at the end of the document. I am truly grateful for each of you who make our parish the welcoming, spirit-filled faith home it is today. In Christ s Peace, Fr. Tony CLICK HERE TO TAKE SURVEY P.S. If you do not find it necessary to review the project plans, please click the button on the right to head directly to the survey and let us know your thoughts!

CASE FOR SUPPORT LONG-TERM MASTER FACILITIES PLAN A proposal to continue building our legacy for the next generation

OUR BEGINNING Our Lady of Consolation has been responding to Christ s call since 1964. What began as a mission parish quickly grew into a young church worshipping in a gym with 60 families. Five years later we had more than tripled in size and secured our first pastor. Over the next 45 years, we continued a steady trajectory of growth. In response, we built a church and family center. We added offices, meeting spaces, and a school. We renovated, expanded, and built some more. Throughout our history, we have always been responsive to the changing needs of our parishioners and how best to serve them. We have pondered options and thoughtfully planned. We have prayed every step of the way to ensure our actions furthered us in our desire to be a Christ-centered community that welcomes, serves, and guides people to a life of holiness. Today, this intentional discernment continues as we embark on a journey to plan our faith-filled future and leave a God-inspired legacy for the next generation of followers at Our Lady of Consolation. rooted in mission

OUR PRESENT God blessed us with this growing, vibrant parish family. All we have comes from, and through, Him. But we also owe a deep debt to those faithful souls who came before us who first built this church, and then through hard work and sacrifice, made it what it is today. Now it is our turn to prepare the way for the next generation. Our church continues to be a welcoming place for newcomers. Our worship services encourage deeper growth in faith. Our programs challenge us to put Christ s love into action. We are living our mission to actively invite people into a deeper relationship with Jesus. And they are responding! 2016 (as of October) Registered Parish Families 1,697 Church attendance (3 Masses) 1,500 Faith Formation (youth-adult) 468 School (grades K through 12) 319 students Baptisms 68 But this outpouring of response is over-taxing our facilities and our ability to First Communion 91 lead more people to Christ and a life of service. Physically, we are at capacity Confirmations 108 and we are starting to turn people away. Marriages 9 Today, we have a school at capacity with students in portable classrooms and a waiting list for open seats. Our faith-formation program is exploding. We have ministries searching for meeting space, worshippers parking on the road, and limited options for large group gatherings or school sporting events. We ve done great things to draw people to us and engage them. Now we must ensure that we can support and sustain that engagement and level of ministerial activity.

OUR RESPONSE We have developed a Master Facilities Plan to address our growth in an intentional, strategic and financially viable way for several years. What started as a Diocese of Grand Rapids directive ultimately grew into a parish-driven, Long-Range Planning Committee. The committee, informed by the OLC Strategic Plan, developed the Long-Range Facilities Master Plan. Some of the critical needs we as a parish have identified and addressed in the plans include: Improved parking, accessibility, pedestrian safety and traffic flow Meeting and classroom spaces for ministries, faith formation and school programs Parish Center, flexible, multi-use space for gatherings, programs and athletics Enhanced worship and fellowship space Office space for both permanent and temporary assignments We have been invested in this process, and we have been present on the journey. Today s Master Plan is a result of that hard work and determination. It is rooted in the mission and priorities of our Strategic Plan and it is based on our current and projected future needs. It has been designed to position us well for decades to come. invested in the future

OUR FUTURE We are now ready to move forward. We have a vision and a plan that can be flexible. The Master Plan includes four larger components encompassing seven separate projects that could be implemented simultaneously or over an extended period of time depending on parish consensus and the funding plan. The four components include: 1 Parish Center/Gymnasium Construct new parish center/gymnasium that is a large, flexible space ͽ Includes spectator seats, stage for theatrics and musicals, locker rooms, additional bathrooms/lockers/showers and storage ͽ Used as multipurpose space for large gatherings, school performances and assemblies, large funeral buffets, parish dinners/dances, etc. Construct new barrier-free entry lobby; easily identifiable entrance ͽ Connects gym, church narthex and school entrance with ramp/stairway Improves safety and site ͽ Naturally creates an upper/ lower level, acts as retaining wall ͽ Improves safety for clear drop-off and pick-up for buses and parents Addition of approximately 110 parking spaces accessed from the eastern drive

2 3 4 Education Center: School and Faith Formation Construct new pod of 6 classrooms with secondary entrance, open space and storage; build it with capacity to add rooms vertically Add space for meetings and gatherings Renovate school offices/administration, media center and teacher s lounge Church Construct new entrances and narthex/gathering area to cradle existing worship space ͽ Provide main circulation and connection to the school ͽ Offer overflow for worship ͽ Visually showcase the vibrancy of the church to the outside community Reorient worship space ͽ Develop crescent seating to create better and more engaged experience for priests and parishioners; worship space no longer divided ͽ Gain of 200-250 more seats Construct new chapel adjacent to worship space Add nursery, cry room, reconciliation, vestry and sacristy Expand southern parking lot to add approximately 75 spaces Renovate existing Family Center, including kitchen, equipment and storage Construct modest addition to accommodate increase storage

FUNDING PLAN To be good stewards of our resources and not accrue long-term debt, we recommend that we: Schedule the major components and projects Set initial financial goal to cover the first projects but keep awareness of the full Master Plan Launch a capital stewardship campaign in the fall of 2017 Begin work only when 50% of the funds needed for each project is secured in cash Surplus funds beyond goal would address project(s) in next stages While there is no one crucial area that must be done first, there are projects that logically make more sense for sequencing implementation and addressing parish priorities. The Master Planning Committee recommends raising funds first for the: Parish Center/Gymnasium/multipurpose space room that would also address some of the current parking issues Education Center: School and Faith Formation that would also address our lack of meeting spaces Rectory: The existing rectory will need to be replaced because of site space needed for parish center We propose moving forward with a robust capital stewardship campaign in the Fall of 2017 to fund the first priorities as identified above at a cost of approximately $6.2 million. Proceeds over and above the $6.2 million goal would allow the parish to consider implementing additional priorities in the Master Plan. The proposed capital stewardship campaign would request pledges/commitments from all parishioners, payable over a multi-year period (typically three years). One of the campaign themes that would be emphasized would be Not Equal Gifts, but Equal Sacrifice from all households.

ESTIMATED COSTS* First Phase Parish Center/Gymnasium/Rectory 3,800,000 Education Center Addition 2,400,000 First Priority Estimated Costs 6,200,000 Second Phase Church 5,500,000 Multipurpose Room 1,000,000 Administrative offices 750,000 Repurpose Existing Gymnasium 500,000 Second Priority Estimated Costs 7,750,000 *Adjusted for inflation since 1/2015 estimates

OUR LEGACY While the leadership of Our Lady of Consolation Parish recognizes the immediate and future benefits that will be gained from the proposed plan, it also recognizes the impact a $6 million project may have on our parish family. The next step is continued input, review and refinement from our parishioners. Parish leadership is seeking input from the parish to determine the level at which the parish family supports the proposed Master Plan and willingness to sacrifice in support of this important project. Parish leadership has invested considerable effort in the creation of this plan, but the plan cannot be realized without the support of all our parishioners. Let us all continue to pray that God s will be done here at Our Lady of Consolation furthering His Kingdom here in our Rockford community. It is our calling. It is our time. It is our legacy. guided by the holy spirit

ARCHITECTURAL DRAWINGS CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT The chapel s location enables the sharing of liturgical resources with the worship center and provides it a convenient entrance.

ARCHITECTURAL CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT Open gathering space presents a fresh, welcoming face to the community while responding to the existing context.

CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT Public facing gathering space welcomes visitors from the enlarged parking lot.

LEGEND WORSHIP CENTER 1 Sanctuary 2 Gathering 3 Chapel 4 Nursery 5 Vestry 6 Reconciliation 7 8 9 10 11 12 Sacristy Covered drop-off Baptismal font Candles Cry room Worship center entry ADMINISTRATION 13 Office 14 Meeting room 15 Work room 19 Media center 16 17 18 26 Open workstations Choir/Music room Administrative entry Storage 27 28 29 30 31 Classroom Restroom Locker room Gymnasium Stage SCHOOL 20 21 22 23 24 Teacher s lounge Principal s office Meeting room School office Lobby 33 Multipurpose room 34 Existing Parking lot 36 Rectory 37 Future worship center expansion 35 Expanded parking lot 38 Bus drop-off/pick-up

SURVEY The Planning Committee has prayerfully and thoughtfully developed the above long-term master facilities plan! To help us with next steps, we have engaged the services of The Breton Group, a West Michigan consulting firm, to determine the feasibility of our plan. They have designed a brief survey to gather insights, opinions and suggestions of our entire parish family. We are looking to each of you to help guide this process and we look forward to learning your thoughts and receiving your input about the project! Based on what you have learned by reading this document, at a town hall meeting, from weekly bulletins, during Mass and/or talking to fellow parishioners, please respond to the survey via the link below. On behalf of our parish Planning Committee, thank you for your time reviewing this document and completing the survey. <Signature Dropped> CLICK HERE TO TAKE SURVEY