The Case for Building a
New Church and School to Serve the
Holy Spirit Parish

Information available as of June 23, 2005

"Official" Groups and Individuals Involved
(at least 60 individuals)

• Bishop Mike Driscoll
  • Sent a letter to Parish in fall of 2002
• Joint Property Committee
  • Recommended building new in 2001 after assessment of properties
• Pastoral Council
  • Passed resolution to build new in April meeting
• Finance Council
• Building Task Force
• Fr. Joe Muha
• Fr. Enrique Terriquez
• Pastoral Staff

Parish Communication and
Involvement

• Four open forums
  • Average attendance was approximately 40-50
• Parish Survey - 2002
  • Of the 556 people responding to the question of "When to build a new church?"
    • 30% - Immediately
    • 29% - 3-5 years
    • 16% - 5 - 10 years

Primary Factors Considered

• Effects on vitality of our parish
• Effects on priest(s) serving our parish
• Effects on diocese's ability to serve all Catholics in Idaho
• Financial considerations
• Effects on Pocatello/Chubbuck community

Vitality of Our Parish

• Experiences of other consolidated parishes
  • Caldwell consolidated three parishes from outlying communities into one
  • Building a new church can have the effect of rejuvenating a complacent parish
  • Although change was difficult, in the two years since consolidating they have seen parish grow from 1600 to 2200 families
    • Much of the growth was attributed to attracting those that had always lived there but were not active.
  • They are meeting all their financial obligations
    • Pledges are being met
    • "Normal" weekly contributions are up

Vitality of our Parish

• Size of building is not the major factor in the vitality, spirituality, or intimacy of a community
  • Many involved in the discussions cite experiences in churches larger than our new church would be as having a friendly, welcoming character because of the congregation

Vitality of Our Parish

• Ability to conduct ministry
  • Cooperation and collaboration is directly correlated with the sharing of a common space
    • The more people see each other, the more likely they are to work together
  • Pooling of resources allows us to accomplish more
    • We can do more together than separately
  • No shortage of ways that we can minister to each other and the community
    • There will always be plenty of opportunity to participate in ministries as we develop new ways of reaching out

Vitality of Our Parish

• We need to attract inactive Catholics
• We need to plan for future generations
  • Get current youth involved and keep them involved
  • Provide for growth in the Catholic population

Vitality of Our Parish

• Need to provide a larger, more modern school facility to serve the community, provide a fertile ground for religious vocations
  • Current building is over capacity
  • Very little playground area availabale
• School and church should be co-located
  • Student Mass attencance
  • Visible role models for students

Effects on Priest(s)

• Our priests are getting older
  • Average age is 55
• Problems with traveling to various locations to offer Mass
  • Cannot stay after Mass to participate in the community
• Must mediate in inter-chapel competition for resources
• A "split" parish is not an attractive pastoral assignment

Effects on Diocese

• Shortage of priests has made it difficult to provide priests to all parishes
  • Numerous parishes have already been consolidated
  • We have less than half the number of priests that we had in 1990, but 25% more Catholics
  • Projections for the future indicate that even with more optimistic forecasts in number of ordinations, parishioner-to-priest ratios are unlikely to change much in the future

Effects on Diocese

• Currently, with two active priests and approximately 3,600 parishioners, we have almost twice the number of priests per parishioner than the average of the diocese
• It is only fair and just for us to configure ourselves in a way that allows our fellow Catholics in the diocese to be ale to celebrate the Eucharist and have the services of a priest
• We do not want to be a roadblock to the fair allocation of resources in the diocese

Financial Considerations

• Old buildings are energy inefficient
  • $10,000 to heat St. Anthony
  • $3,600 to heat St. Paul
  • Overall, $82,000 on utilities for Parish
• Maintenance costs on old buildings
  • $54,670 on maintenance
  • Electrical, plumbing upgrades necessary
  • Environmental--buried oil tank, asbestos removal