Dear Brothers and Sisters,
As most of you are aware, there has been a lot of talk in recent weeks concerning St. Mary Grade School and its future. Much of this included a lot of speculation involving All Saints Parish. Now we know that a plan is in place to make the necessary repairs to the building's exterior.
A lot of people have asked where all this came from, so I will try to give you a quick synopsis of events. It is important for you to know that from the very beginning of the events that follow we were told that all discussion and information was to be held in strict confidence and not revealed to the general public until a later unspecified date.
Last January the pastors of our Harrison County parishes and our Catholic School principals were called to a meeting in Wheeling. This is when the pastors were made aware of the serious physical problems of the St. Mary School building. It was decided that further evaluation of the problems was needed. At a meeting in February at Immaculate Conception Parish we received more information concerning the condition of the building and were told that a solution to this problem had to be found. One among a few proposed solutions was moving the school here to All Saints. Naturally I had some serious concerns about this proposal. Another one of those proposed solutions was to make the necessary repairs to the present St. Mary School building. I let everyone know that whatever the Bishop's final decision concerning the school would be, I would work with that decision to make the school the very best it could be.
Over the next few months there were more meetings and consultations. A kind of process was placed in motion. Then after careful and prayerful consideration, the people involved in the process shared their ideas and suggestions, hopes and dreams, fears and concerns. At one of our meetings each person presented their pros and cons for each proposed solution. The information gathered at these meetings was given to Bishop Bransfield. Saturday, May 22, prior to Confirmation at All Saints, the Bishop consulted with All Saints Parish Finance Council and Parish Pastoral Council. Then after Confirmation I took him on a brief tour of the religious education wing of our building.
The following Monday the Bishop called me with his decision. This decision was later made public in a news release. The Bishop was not moving the school to All Saints. Instead, the current St. Mary School building would be repaired. Money to begin the project would be raised in the following way. Both All Saints Parish and Immaculate Conception Parish would contribute $200,000.00 to the project ($400,000.00 between the two). From this starting point All Saints would continue to work with Immaculate Conception Parish and St. Mary School to raise money for the most immediate needed repairs to the school including: brickwork, roof, windows, and water damage. This work will keep the St. Mary School building viable while future plans for the school are being considered.
Some may ask, "Fr. Harry, where did you come up with the $200,000.00?" Good question. Last summer All Saints Parish sold the unpaved property across Route 50 to the City of Bridgeport. This is the property on which the old church building was located. The city needed the property in order to extend Third Street to Philadelphia Avenue and to make changes in traffic flow. The city purchased the property for $250,000.00. $50,000.00 of that money was used to pay off a loan from the diocese that was made to purchase the property and house beside Shepherd's Corner. This property will soon be used to enlarge our main parking lot and make our church building much more visible to travelers on Route 50. $200,000.00 of that money was invested with the diocese. Looking to future expanion and development, the plan was to use this money as a down payment on the NAPA property behind our church building when it became available. This is the $200,000.00 that All Saints was able to contribute toward St. Mary School building repairs.
As you know, St. Mary School is a central Catholic school. That is, it belongs to us as well as the other parishes in our area. I am sure All Saints and Immaculate Conception parishes were chosen to head up this drive because we are the largest parishes in Harrison County. So let's be very positive about our role in this endeavor and see what we can do to raise the money that will be needed to complete the repairs.
On Sunday, July 11th, at 5:00 p.m., a meeting will be held for All Saints parishioners to give you more information about this project. This is an attempt to keep the parish well informed. The meeting will include the following: (1) I will address why we are doing this. (2) A school representative will speak on exactly what repairs will be made with the money raised. (3) Brian Minor, Executive Director Communications and Development for the diocese, will give the specifics on the different ways donations can be made. (4) Time will be allotted for questions and answers.
We hope to have a very good turn-out for this meeting on July 11th. Until then, one thing that would be very helpful is to pray for guidance and direction concerning your own generosity to this project.