The Big Push:"Commitment Weekend"

Dear Parishioners,

Did you know that our Honoring our Past - Building Our Future capital campaign has three goals? 

1. Raise a minimum of $2.5 mil.,
2. To reach a challenge goal of $3 mil., and finally
3. To give everyone an opportunity to participate in any way they can to this important campaign.

If you check out our thermometers in our narthexes, you will see that we have met goal #1.  Yea!  Thank you to all who have made it possible. This coming weekend, we can make a strong push for goals #2 and #3.

This weekend is called “Commitment Weekend.”  It is one of our biggest moments where I am asking that everyone that has not already made a financial commitment to our capital campaign, to do so.  By heading over to the Parish Center after Mass, you will be able to speak with a campaign volunteer who will guide you in making your pledge. It is not a negotiation, but a time to graciously and gratefully receive whatever gift you decide upon to give.  Even if you have not yet decided on how you will give, please still speak to a campaign volunteer in order to let us know.  Why you might ask?  Well, after all the Masses in the afternoon, we will then make an effort to go visit the homes of those whom we have not yet heard from in regards to the campaign.  So, if you prefer that nobody come to your home, please stop by the Parish Center after Mass and let us know.  Again, our goal is to try to have personal contact with every parishioner we can so as to make sure that everyone has a chance to get involved in this amazing project.

If you have any questions, again, going to the Parish Center will connect you with a campaign volunteer who will help answer your questions.  

Thank you all for your amazing generosity!  The community of St. Anne has done it again!

Blessings,

Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor

Honoring Our Past, Part 4

Dear Parishioners,

Another way to honor our past, is to simply share your memories of events in the current church as well as those when we were located on 7th Street. I have loved hearing how things were built, rebuilt, renovated, fixed, etc. I love to hear about the various ministries, movements, and events that have taken place here at St. Anne in the past.  I know some basics about how the Charismatic Renewal took root in our parish, how our youth program hosted a national gathering of REACH youth ministers, how the school was created and fostered, the difficulties encountered with unexpected underground springs during the construction of the extra wing for the school, how funds were raised in the “Two-by-Two” capital campaign for the Parish Center and how it was built, and the colorful stories of our former priests and on and on. If you have any photos you would like to share, it would be wonderful to make a collage for people to see.

Conceptual Elevation Rendering of St. Anne, July 31, 1956

A few weeks ago, I went looking through our collection of old drawings and plans that dated just before 1960.  What I found was quite surprising.  Below are two renderings of a potential church building and campus that was dated to July 31, 1956.  It is a mission style structure with a very ambitious master plan including classrooms for a school, a rectory, and convent. Clearly, Fr. Kelly had some big ideas for the future.  I wonder if anyone today was ever shown these drawings and if so, I wonder if they are still alive today.  Let me know if you ever saw this plan before, as I would be curious to hear why it was scrapped. 

Master Plan renderings of conceptual new church, July 31, 1956

While this plan never moved beyond conceptual drawings, it reminds me of the myriad of conceptual drawings our current Core Building Committee reviewed from S & B James Construction.  In the end, as with our current plan, dreams had to come down to reality and something more modest was chosen, something that was affordable and functional.

Blessings,

Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor

Three Ways To Help With Our New Church Building Project

Dear Parishioners,

For many months, people have asked how the new church project was coming along.  I have shared with them that we had hired a capital campaign company, Walsh & Associates, who sent us Mark Warren as the lead coordinator who has been conducting our efforts to prepare and will walk us through the process to the end.  From there we hired Carole Kay as the Administrative Assistant to help manage the day-to-day operations in preparation for our capital campaign.  I have also formed a new cabinet specifically directed to lead our efforts to maximize our potential for success.  These include Dave & Doneta Thomason, Kirk & Jamee Chapman and Bill & Maureen Bailey who have graciously agreed to serve as our Campaign Chairpersons with Dave & Terri Currie, Glenn & Sandy Walker, Phil & Barb Busch, Mike & Kathy Bird and Stu & Sharon Watson respectively agreeing to head our important support committees for Prayer, Hospitality, Youth & Children’s Gifts, Communications, and Creative Giving.

So, this weekend marks what is called, “Announcement Weekend” where I spell out the issues that have brought us to this point of discernment to build a new church as well as our plan to meet and sole those issues.  Ultimately, I have three requests:

1) Please pray regularly for our campaign's success and that God’s will be done.

2) Please prayerfully consider helping by becoming a campaign volunteer, too.  Remember that many hands make light work.  With a strong volunteer group, we can have confidence that the effort is efficiently run and that the job of volunteering will be easy and enjoyable for everyone. 

3)  And finally, you will all eventually be asked to support the campaign effort financially, as well.  We also need and ask that whatever gift you ultimately decide to make be over and above whatever you do regularly for our church since we simply can’t afford to jeopardize our regular giving or in any way erode our ability to provide ongoing support for our programs, services and ministries.

Please see our special insert in this week’s bulletin for more details.  If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask me or Stephen Voehl, our Business Manager.

Blessings,

Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor

Archdiocese Capital Campaign

Dear Parishioners,

This month, we will be hearing more about the Archbishop’s Capital Campaign. In the coming weeks, we will be showing a video about the campaign during Mass. Hopefully, it will bring to your attention the various needs that are trying to be met and encourage you to participate in whatever way you can.

I would like to highlight one aspect of the campaign and that is the funding of an endowment for seminary education. When I was a seminarian, I was very aware that the Archdiocese paid for my schooling, room, and board. That truly helped me focus on my studies and discernment. Imagine also having to worry about whether or not I could afford it. Today, that cost is $40,000/yr per seminarian.

Blessings,

Fr. William Holtzinger

Pastor

The fund that has historically paid for these costs will be completely empty at the end of this year. It is Archbishop Vlazny’s desire to create a way to create a permanent and protected financial source to help pay for our seminarians’ education.

We all want good priests. Mount Angel Seminary, one of the main schools our men attend, is a fantastic institution which offers our men a top notch theological education and formation for priestly vocations. If this was the only part of the campaign, I’d still participate as we most definitely need more priests. Please bring this need to prayer. Ask how you can help participate in this campaign. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask me or Alan Crews, our Business Manager, about it.

Archdiocesan Capital Campaign

Dear Parishioners,

Some time ago each registered parish household was sent a letter from Archbishop Vlazny that detailed the upcoming “Sharing our Faith, Shaping our Future” capital campaign. In the coming weeks you will hear of and read about the all-parish, all-parishioner capital effort that is moving forward. Our parish and missions are grouped with about 25 other parishes in the southern portion of the Archdiocese of Portland. Our first phase of the effort will be preparation of materials and recruitment of volunteers. So parishioners may not see visible activity. All the activity at this point is behind the scenes.

There are four major goals which our Archbishop has dis- cerned are in need of such an undertaking: Seminary Education, Priests Retirement, Faith Formation, and particular needs of each church based on needs expressed by each parish. As the weeks go forward, these four areas will be reflected upon more deeply for you and expressed in our bulletin, a video presented at Mass, as well as a reflection during Mass.

At this time, it is very important for us to pray for guidance in what God may be calling each of us to do on behalf of this undertaking. Again, we will be describing the details of the capital campaign in the future weeks, but our need for prayerful discernment as good stewards begins now.

This week’s Gospel challenges us to reflect in our own lives how we are being called to be good stewards with all the things we have been given, and in particular how money plays a role in our lives. We are told by Jesus, we cannot both serve God and mammon (wealth).

Each week, as we move forward, please look to our “Capital Campaign Corner” for the latest and most up-to-date information about this important activity within our parish and archdiocese. Please pray for its success as well as the ministry activities that our Archbishop desires to foster in our Churches.

Blessings,

Fr. William Holtzinger

Pastor