Church prays last ditch phone-a-thon can save project, St. Pat's Church needs to raise $1.25M in 9 days
Published on November 22nd, 2000
STONEHAM, MA - St. Pat's — the only Catholic parish in town — must collect $1.25 million in pledges over the next week and a half to keep alive the dream of expanding the church.
Father Bill Schmidt, Pastor of the St. Patrick Church at 71 Central St., says that folks can become a part of Stoneham history for the price of two pizzas a week for three years.
"We can leave something of ourselves behind for our children and grandchildren, like our grandparents did for us," says parishioner and Capital Campaign Committee member Donna Secondini, her voice cracking with emotion.
The design proposed by architect Angelo Petrocelli almost triples the seating in the church, adds a parish center and a gym / auditorium, connects the church with the adjacent first- through eighth-grade parochial school, and makes the entire facility handicap accessible.
The project cost is estimated at $5.1 million. As of last Friday 919 families had pledged an average of $3,018 for a total of $2,733,926. There are 4,800 families in the parish.
"We think a lot of people are treating this like a bill," says Secondini. "They'll pay, but they are waiting for the last minute."
Secondini says the pledges have ranged from $7 from a child to $250,000 from another parishioner.
Father Schmidt says that the timing of an Archdiocese five-year capital campaign beginning in 2001 and an order to halt other local drives has crunched the time the church has to raise the necessary bucks to keep the project going.
"We are only going to move forward if we have the money," Schmidt says. "I don't want to do something that could overburden the church with debt."
Fund raising began last summer, and the Archdiocese doesn't want local churches taking pledges after November. Schmidt, the St. Patrick Parish Council and the Capital Campaign Committee have figured out how much money the church needs to go forward with the project without shaking the budgetary foundations.
"The $4 million will put us in position to meet the guidelines of the Archdiocese," Schmidt says. The Archdiocese recommends having at least 50 percent of the total in hand and another 30 percent in pledges before going out to bid.
"We can do this. We just need everyone to do their part," said Capital Campaign Committee member Laura Hogan. She wants to remind people that they don't have to pay all the money at once; the pledge payments can stretch over three years.
"We've talked about this for 40 years," Schmidt says. "Right now we have no plan B... and if we wait, construction costs could double in five years."
"We're praying a lot," adds Secondini.
Schmidt says that if everything goes as planned, construction could begin next summer.
What the Pastor has planned for his flock is a hugely successful last minute phone-a-thon on the nights of Nov. 27-29.
Anyone who wants to beat the phone-a-thon volunteers to the punch should call the rectory at 438-0960, Secondini at 438-5610, or Hogan at 665-5955 with a pledge.
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