Parishes meet unique needs in Legacy for Our Mission campaign

Nestled in the wooded rolling hills of southern Indiana, St. Joseph Parish in Clark County is experiencing a significant growth in membership due to several new housing developments in the area. The parish is using its participation in the Legacy for Our Mission campaign to make major updates to its campus, which was last done 36 years ago. (Submitted photo)

By Sean Gallagher

The Archdiocese of Indianapolis has 150 parishes. That’s a lot.

Each parish has its own unique role to play in the Legacy for Our Mission: For Our Children and the Future campaign.

At the same time, no matter how different the needs of one parish might be from another, the members of both can support the archdiocese’s shared ministries through their participation in the campaign.

St. Bartholomew Parish in Columbus saw the dedication of a new church in March 2002 and the completion of a new gymnasium in 2003.

As a result, when the Legacy for Our Mission campaign was launched in 2004, St. Bartholomew did not have significant capital needs which required the support of parish members.

But, according to its pastor, Father Clem Davis, the campaign came at the right time to help the parish overcome its debt from its previous building projects.

Currently, St. Bartholomew Parish has to spend $75,000 per year to service its $1 million debt.

“If we don’t have to be taking that [$75,000] out of operations for debt service, we could be doing any number of other things with that,” Father Davis said. “Clearly, we want to get out from under that particular burden.”

How the parish would use those

freed-up funds in the future has not been determined. But Father Davis said that the community is using its participation in the campaign to plan for its future ministry needs.

In addition to eliminating its debt, St. Bartholomew Parish also plans to use part of the $4 million it hopes to raise through the campaign to replace the school’s heating and air conditioning system, and to make improvements to the school’s restrooms.

Unlike St. Bartholomew Parish, which has witnessed two large building projects over the past decade, the facilities of St. Joseph Parish in Clark County have largely remained unchanged for a generation.

Its last building project happened in 1971 when a parish hall was constructed.

Now, new housing developments are popping up all around the rolling wooded hills surrounding the New Albany Deanery parish. As a result, it is experiencing growth in its membership.

The parish community is using its participation in the Legacy for Our Mission campaign to accommodate this growth.

Jerry Rauck, chairman of St. Joseph Parish’s finance commission, thinks the campaign is starting at just the right time.

“We’ve had a lot of new parishioners come in that have wanted to get involved, and you’ve got a lot of the families that have been involved for a long period of time,” Rauck said. “And that’s why I think the timing is perfect for us to do the things we’re doing here.”

The parishioners hope to raise $1.4 million through the campaign to make several improvements to the parish campus.

Major renovations will be made to the 36-year-old parish hall, including the installation of a new kitchen, a new basement storeroom, new meeting rooms that can also serve as classrooms, and new restrooms.

“We’re practically rebuilding it,” said Conventual Franciscan Father John Curran, St. Joseph Parish’s pastor.

An addition will also be made to its 126-year-old church, which will include a reconciliation room and handicap- accessible restrooms.

“St. Joseph is definitely going to have a big future,” Father John said. †