Significant Findings

 Music Ministry

The music ministries, which consist of the adult choir, children’s choir, winds of praise, bell choir and youth praise band often compete for space with other groups for practice area. They also lack a central area where equipment, instruments and music files can be stored securely or set up for practice. The church has to be heated or cooled for these small groups to practice.

 Small Wonder Pre-School

The Small Wonder Pre-School has 78 students. There is a waiting list, so the preschool could expand if more square footage were available. Eight rooms are used for preschool. We are deficient in bathrooms and lavatories for small children. Since the preschool rooms are used for parish school of religion (grades 1 through 5), the toys and educational materials must be moved to one-third of the room behind a curtain to allow for religion classes.

 Parish School of Religion (Family Ministry)

We are serving 307 children age 3 through grade 5. Classes are held on Monday through Thursday nights. Due to lack of space children in grades 1-5 must use the Small Wonder preschool rooms on furniture sized for preschool children. The rooms are decorated with themes and artwork appropriate for preschoolers. Only two-thirds of each classroom is available for class. Seven classrooms are needed, equipped with properly sized furniture and audio-visual technology.

 Kitchen

Each year the kitchen is used for 60 funeral dinners, daily for 10 weeks by the St. Joseph’s Table, six Knights of Columbus breakfasts, Scouts pancake breakfasts and blue and gold dinners, Lenten soup and salad, the Missions taco dinner, Retrouvaille, Hispanic ministry, family ministry and caterers. The kitchen is used for major fundraisers of the parish. The layout of the kitchen is inefficient.

The equipment is very old and some of it doesn’t work well. Most of the kitchen equipment was used prior to being obtained for the parish 40 years ago. There are occasional safety issues, and it’s getting more difficult to pass Health Department inspections. It is not practical to use the Upper Room for receptions and dinners, because the kitchen is in the basement.

 Large Meeting Area

Many ministries of the parish need a large meeting room and a room capable of seating 200 persons for meals. The old worship area, now called the Upper Room, is unattractive, has poor lighting and the worn and soiled carpet presents a poor image. It is a preferred location for meals but it has no full or caterer’s kitchen. Sometimes restrooms are not available because doors to the new church and classrooms/offices are locked for security. Audio-visual technology is also inadequate. Most ministries do not like to use the basement large and small halls, because they are unattractive, the layout is poor, temperature in the small room is controlled in a preschool room upstairs, the lighting is poor and there is no audio-visual equipment.

 Youth Programs (6th through 12th grades)

Faith formation sessions are held on Sunday afternoons in the upper room. After the social and prayer time, there are no breakout rooms for the junior and senior high school youth to meet in. Eight to ten meeting rooms with appropriate size furniture and audio-visual and internet technology are needed. If classrooms or meeting rooms were constructed for grades 6 -12, they could be used by grades 1-5, because grades 6-12 meet on Sundays. The rooms should be clustered so they can be secured from public access in compliance with diocesan security requirements.

 Small Meeting Rooms

The Upper Room (old worship area), Father Coleman Room (old cry room), room 9 (1/2 of the old quilt room) and basement are the only meeting rooms for adult ministries. Many adult ministries meet on the same nights as the school of religion is in session. There are often insufficient rooms for meetings of parish ministries and adult education. The parish should have seven meeting rooms to accommodate 12-15 persons, two meeting rooms to accommodate 30-40 people and one large meeting room.

Meeting rooms should be located outside the area which is secured for youth classes and activities. They should have audio/visual equipment, and some should have internet access. Round tables seating six to eight persons each are preferred.

 Storage

Every area that is available for storage (two sheds, the old confessionals, old vesting room, offices, closets in the large and small halls, electrical equipment room, etc.) is full. A great deal of space is required for storing flowers, materials, nativity scenes, Christmas trees, etc. for decorating the church. Due to lack of space school of religion and preschool teachers are now keeping some classroom materials at home.

For the long term we need to double our storage space. Storage should also be centralized and be more convenient to the ministries which use it. Music storage is addressed in number one above.

 Offices

Offices are scattered and some are located within the area secured for preschool and religious education areas. This is inconvenient for parishioners and inefficient. Consolidating office space would enable sharing reception, staff services, printers and copying equipment. A conference room(s) would permit having smaller offices and could also serve for confidential counseling. No office exists for an associate pastor or permanent deacon.

 Security

Diocesan policies to protect God’s children require us to secure the portion of the building used for preschool, parish school of religion and youth activities. These youth activities are located in the center of the building, making it difficult for parishioners to get from one part of the building to another.

Restrooms are within the secured areas, so they are not accessible to parishioners attending meetings in the upper room or the Father Coleman room. There is no security alarm for the new church or fire suppression system in the preschool, office areas, basement or upper room. Cameras are recommended for all outside entrances of the church and outdoor lighting should be installed near the office entrance.

 Exterior

A covered drop-off has been requested for the north church entrance. If the south entrance is modified it should also have a covered drop-off. Improved directional signage is needed. Since the south entrance is used for the parish school of religion and most night meetings more parking should be provided in the south lot or improved pedestrian access should be provided from the north parking lot. The long range master plan for church property should be updated.

 Building Conditions

The building is generally in good structural condition; however some of the rooftop heating/air conditioning units are old and need frequent repair. Much of the building interior needs esthetic attention.

 Going Green

The rooftop HVAC units on the old church and offices are in a constant state of repair. Some is 40-year-old technology. If the parish remodels the upper room, offices, preschool area and the basement large and small halls, there will be opportunities for energy saving from new heating and air conditioning equipment, computer control of heating and air conditioning in individual areas from a central location, and efficient lighting using motion sensors.

Stewardship requires us to be as energy efficient as possible.