BUILDING THE FUTURE TOGETHER

The Activity Center and Pews Appeal has begun!

$5,000,000 is needed by February 2023 to fund the construction and completion of our New Parish Activity Center and Pews for the Church. St. Clare of Assisi Parish is the largest parish in the Diocese of Phoenix. Our current facilities are inadequate to accommodate an adoration chapel, over 30 ministries, education, office staff and activities for the people that that meet and work here. To continue to grow and thrive we need the facilities to accommodate that growth.

We need YOUR help to make this happen! Please prayerfully consider donating to this worthy and much needed appeal. There will be special envelopes and a designated mailbox in the Narthex to deposit your contributions or use the Activity Center & Pews Appeal link on Faith Direct. When donating to the appeal, please add “ACTIVITY CENTER AND PEW APPEAL” to the memo line of your check. Thank you for your generosity!

UPDATE as of December 4

Thanks to everyone who has already participated in our Pew and Parish Center Appeal! Already over 200 families have made a contribution to the appeal. This is in addition to the 500+ families who previously participated in the Together Let Us Go Forth Campaign which initiated the fundraising efforts for the Parish Center. Having raised the necessary funds for the pews and kneelers for our church ($500K), we now pivot to raise funds to complete the Parish Center. Increased building material costs have increased the total Parish Center cost from $11M to $14M. In order to flourish in teaching the faith, building up the social fabric of our parish, and providing the meeting space needed for our 30+ ministries which serve so generously the needs of our parish community, it's vital that we complete all phases of the Parish Center project. Please be generous with your financial contribution to the appeal as you plan your year-end giving.

With the Parish Center building completed, we will be able to optimize our ability to Build Up the Kingdom of God in making and forming disciples for our Lord Jesus! May the Holy Spirit inspire a great spirit of magnanimity in our St. Clare of Assisi Parish community as we show our appreciation for and desire to help grow and thrive the priceless gift of our Catholic faith. Continued Advent blessings to everyone!

Our Goal

Our Parish Activities Center will include clergy and staff offices, workspaces, a event hall and kitchen, Saint Vincent de Paul service room, meeting rooms for faith formation for children, teens and adults. It will be great for our parish groups, have storage space for group activities and office archives. We will also build a small adoration chapel for extended periods of Eucharistic Adoration. We will build a plaza between the new building and the church for outdoor activities. Plus we will add some additional parking spaces.

A few features of the plan:

• Dividable Event Hall
• Large Kitchen
• Classrooms
• St Vincent de Paul Service Room
• Parish Offices
• Chapel
• Audio/Visual/Technology
• Furniture, Fixtures, Equipment
• Rest Rooms
• Plaza uniting new building to the church
• Facilities Manager Room
• Additional parking spaces

Approvals

We competed the design development phase. The Diocese of Phoenix approved our budget. The City of Surprise Planning and Zoning Commission also approved our project and gave us a construction permit.

Architects

We are working with a wonderful team from Adaptive Architects, Inc. They have completed many projects throughout the Phoenix metropolitan area and have worked extensively on projects for the Diocese of Phoenix.

Contractor

We have a very fine and talented team for construction from Wespac Construction. They are working very hard with sub-contractors and vendors for the engineering, materials sources, labor and construction.

Groundbreaking Ceremony

We held a groundbreaking ceremony and blessing of the construction project on Sunday, November 21, 2021 which was the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. There was about a month delay in beginning the construction due to COVID.

Parish Construction Committee

Our parish Finance Council, Pastoral Council and parish staff as well as an employee of the Diocese of Phoenix Buildings and Properties Office form our construction committee as consultants and advisors.

Commitment and Outreach

There are many parishioners who have already made pledges and payments. This is a rapidly growing area. There are many new parishioners who were not here when we started the campaign. They are not familiar with the project. We intend to reach out to them and get them up to speed on what we are doing and why we need this new building to replace the old temporary building.  COVID stopped many of our efforts. 

We will do our best to reach out to the entire community. If everyone participates to one degree or another, we will be successful. We need people to give testimony to the needs of our parish and invite greater participation from the whole parish community.

Our joined sacrifices of a little or a lot will bring our plans into reality and further our mission to live and share the beauty of our Catholic faith with this generation and those who in the future will be seeking spiritual nourishment in a Catholic community. We ask for equal sacrifice, not equal donations. Some people can donate more and some less, but all can donate from their heart.

May we build the future together for the glory of God and good of his people!

Sharing Responsibility

Jesus calls out to all of us, “Come follow me.” He also sends us into the world to teach all nations. The nature of our community is to evangelize together. We share responsibility for fulfilling the mission that has been given to us by Christ himself.

The task is daunting, but the rewards are abundant. Jesus said, I came so that you might have life and have it in abundance. But he also told his disciples that they must be willing to take up the cross daily. If they didn’t, they could not be true disciples.

Our parish is about discipleship, stewardship and co-responsibility. We manage the bountiful gifts that God has given us. They are not merely for our individual or community benefit. They are for the glory of God. Thus we have a short view and a long view. We do the most loving things that we can do today and we plan for developing the ministries so that they will also serve the next generations who will follow us.

Architect Renderings

Here are five more renderings of the new activities center. Click the images to get a closer look.