Rockford Parish Readies to Improve Campus for Its Second 50 Years
By Amanda Hudson, News Editor
April 26, 2018
ROCKFORD—Holy Family Parish here continues to welcome gifts and pledges for an expansion of its facilities and to make needed maintenance updates to its existing school and parish office building.
Father Phillip Kaim, pastor, announced the campaign on Feb. 25. A team of 80 volunteers visited several hundred parish families to invite them to participate.
Nearly 2,200 appeal letters were mailed to potential supporters in February.
The “Honoring Our Past ... Building Our Future” capital campaign has now raised $6.5 million in gifts and pledges.
Hopes were to raise $8 million over three years to accomplish four milestones: maintenance; an addition of a fellowship hall, upstairs restrooms and a multi-purpose room; parking lot repairs; and an enhanced worship space.
Top priority: repairs
The highly-inefficient school boiler is original, dating back to 1962.
Bathrooms are old and need upgrading, the gym skylight leaks and a new air conditioning system is needed in the gym and school cafeteria.
A few maintenance items will be undertaken for the parish offices.
The new hall, to be attached to the church building, to the right as one enters the building, will allow for weekend events to build community among parishioners.
The new construction also will bring restrooms to the main floor of the church in addition to those already located in the lower, basement level of the church.
A multi-purpose room will be available for wake services and meetings.
Holy Family is home to several parish groups and ministries and is at or near capacity for meeting space, particularly on weekday evenings.
“We have a lot of exciting new ministries recently started, and we hope with this building campaign we can start even more, especially retreats and small groups,” Father Kaim says.
“Our mindset should be to grow this church — that’s the Great Commission Jesus gives us — and so I don’t want to say ‘yes’ to a new club, only to find them struggling to get meeting space,” he adds.
Additional plans are for the current hospitality and cry room to look into the church itself instead of showing the Mass on a television in that room.
Plans for the parking lot include reconstruction, providing adequate drainage and possibly adding a few more parking spots.
“The building campaign is a long time in coming,” Father Kaim says. “Our campus is aging and needs to be updated and modernized. Our mission statement is ‘Building Community ... Making Disciples.’ By expanding our footprint for meeting and gathering space we can fulfill that mission better.”