Here’s what is included in the $6.3 million Phase I of Our Building Project:

·        A large, well-designed worship space with a capacity to seat 1200 with excellent acoustics and visibility. This new facility is rich in the design features identified by the parishioners during the initial planning activities with our Liturgical Design Consultant and architects.

·        a permanent immersion baptismal font. This will enhance our traditional Easter Vigil celebrations, as well as the celebration of infant baptism at Mass.

·        a separate reservation chapel adjacent to the worship space to provide opportunities for personal prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.

·        a reconciliation room within the worship facility.

·        a sacristy and an expanded music area

·        permanent space for our Youth Ministry program. This was identified as a particularly important feature because of the number of young people in our parish.

·        additional flexible education space and a much needed Religious Ed Resource Center utilized by staff and RE volunteers.

·        a large nursery adjacent to our new worship space, making it easier to drop off and pick up younger children before and after mass.

·        a larger gathering space with an inside passageway to our current facility.

·        a much larger parish hall for parish gatherings that will be able to accommodate up to 400 people for a wedding reception and other similar type events. The current worship space will also be available to serve as a daily mass chapel.

·        a large outside plaza gathering space. 

This facility is designed to be a very energy efficient, green facility which was a high priority with our parishioners in our planning process. Our heating and cooling design will include a state of the art geothermal system as well as other efficient designs including lighting, window glazing, and insulation.  The system is also designed to be easily expandable for the next phase, which could include an educational wing, multi-purpose room/gym, expanded kitchen facilities, a day chapel for smaller gatherings and added office space.

Parish Bidders on Our Building Project

With the upcoming ground breaking of our new Church facility, the Construction Committee is seeking interested Subcontractors and Suppliers from among our Parish family who would like to be considered as bidders on our project. The list of interested parties will be forwarded to our general contractor who will qualify potential bidders based on factors including, but not limited to: background, experience and reference checks.

The list of qualified bidders (developed by the general contractor) will then be presented to the SEAS Building Project Steering Committee for their review/amendment and final approval. Plans will be available in August with bidding in September. Construction is to start immediately thereafter with completion in approximately 12 months.

Interested parties should submit their company information and areas of interest no later than July 31, 2008 to Al and Diane Roderick, Construction Committee co-chairs, at al.roderick@mchsi.com.