Help NEEDED

We welcome parishioners who want to share their talents with us as part of this project. Currently we are seeking anyone who can donate their time and talent to help specifically with

• Master carpentry and or wood carving ability (for the Chapel interior)
• Stone mason or similar for some stone work (for the Chapel interior)
• Landscaping company/persons to work on the outside courtyard

While none of these are urgent needs, as we plan and as we finalize budgets, your donation of time and talents (and resources if able) can help us greatly. Please send us an email at smbuildingcommittee@saintmonicas.com or fill out our volunteer form.

Last week we had a company doing drilling on the site to make sure the ground is suitable for building (called Geo-Testing). That was successful and we will have minimal upgrades to the ground that we need to do. (That is very good news) The bad news is we were hoping they would have hit Gold or Oil… (but no luck with that).

We expect to submit our Civil/Ground/Land drawings to the county by mid Feb-end of Feb. This is the first of many permits we need to get. This gives us permission to do work on the land.

We expect to complete the overall building construction drawings by end of Feb and then will submit them to the county for permitting.

Our general contractor will then take the construction drawings and work on final pricing for us to see where we are in our budget for the building. Permitting from the county can take 3 months- potentially.

In the time between we will work with our GC to come up with cost savings ideas to get the budget down. (We fully expect to have to do this)

We have just received formal approval from the Archdiocese to move forward.

We have finished the initial design for Phase 1. This will include the adoration chapel, the parish hall/lobby, parking, and the kitchen area (at this point moving the existing kitchen over to the new space).

We have chosen the general contractor, (Lusk Construction) and with Catholic Construction Services and our architect (CDH Partners) we will be completing the final design by late spring, with the plan to break ground late spring or summer of 2013 and to be finished with Phase 1 by late spring/summer of 2014.

This new design allows for us to "add on" to the building as we raise additional funds in the future. This way we can build what we can now and add more later.

All of this Phase 1 will cost right at 3 million dollars. We may not raise that much with this first campaign so we may need to take out a small "bridge loan" to cover the difference. We prayerfully expect new and more pledges to cover this deficit as we progress on the construction. Our Goal still remains to not have any debt on this building.

Look for us to have these renderings/drawings of Phase 1, along with the 3D model being shown in the narthex starting the weekend of Dec 22/23.

Merry Christmas!

PS.
This is a great time to ask that all those who have pledged so wonderfully to this project to please continue to keep your pledges coming.

If you have not become a financial supporter of the project, could we ask you to consider doing so? Now you see exactly what we are going to do as part of Phase 1 and we hope you will join the many others in the parish to make this a reality.

Late spring we finalized the Building committee, and began to meet. We reviewed the updated building designs and made changes based upon feedback from the committee. In August, we had the first meeting of our Chapel Design committee. This group will be working to design the Interior of the chapel. Do you have a special talent or service you want to donate to help us with the new building, please let us know. If you have any questions or suggestion for either of our committees, feel free to email us at smbuildingcommittee@saintmonicas.com.

Over the past 8 months we have been working on numerous building design changes to “re-create” the building based upon our results of the capital campaign. It has taken numerous designs to come up with one that we believe will work with our budget and allow us to move forward. With the assistance of our architect, we have come up with a phased approach that should allow us to build part of the building and then add to it over the next few years as we raise additional money. Our goal is to be able to build the parish hall, adoration chapel and parking as part of phase 1. Coming in the next 30 days or so, hopefully we will have the new design ready to show to everyone. If you have any questions or suggestion on the new building, feel free to email us at smbuildingcommittee@saintmonicas.com.

Have you seen the colored lines on the ground, all around our property? Is it left over from catholic camp? Is it from some strange High school PB&J game? The answer is neither. It is part of the process we have to go through as we finalize details for the new building. A few weeks ago a company was hired to survey the areas where we will be putting the building. This is one of the first major steps in our construction process. Yes that means things are happening. This information is needed so we can work on plans to submit to the county to get permits for building. If you have any questions or suggestion on the new building, feel free to email us at smbuildingcommittee@saintmonicas.com.

We, the faithful and dedicated parishioners of St. Monica’s Catholic Church are working hard to build the Kingdom. Jesus called on his apostles to go out into the world and build the Church, so we strive to follow in the example of the apostles and do that today. With our vibrant ministries, faithful worship, celebration of the Eucharist and all the sacraments, we are carrying out God’s directive to us to help Him to Build His Kingdom right here in Georgia.

While the Church is made up of the his faithful people, we have needs to gather together as one for weekend and daily worship, to pass on the teachings of our church to our children, to help feed the hungry and care for the sick, to share fun and fellowship, and enliven our own faith journey by participating in our 55+ different ministry groups. These important segments of our faith life require facilities and our 10+ year old Church and Education Center are in need of a facelift and of significant expansion of space.

So now we are working to expand God’s Kingdom with our 2011 Capital Campaign. Many of our 2500 families have already participated in this exciting project to Build God’s Kingdom and we invite you to also participate. Explore the pages of this website; make your pledge on line or Contact us Now to learn more about this exciting project!

We need you, we need your involvement. Can we ask you to please consider a pledge. Click on the "Pledge" button below to get started.

How would you like to get involved?

Friendly reminder, we have committed to reaching out to and talking to all 2500 families in our parish. One way or the other we will get to you. By mail, by phone, or in person at your front door. The only way that we will stop bugging/harassing you is for you to turn in your pledge card online from this website or by mail. If you are not able to participate financially in the campaign please still submit your pledge card saying you can’t participate but will continue to pray for the success of the campaign.