Stay tuned...
Church of the Beloved Disciple was founded in 1926 on a strong faith in God's leadership. Our parish knows how to respond to the mission given to us by Christ: We are motivated by the words of Jesus, to love God and to love our neighbor. We all have a need to worship God, to be Disciples of Christ and to share God's grace with others.
Throughout our history, we have grown both spiritually and numerically. When significant decisions have been needed, we worked and we prayed together to reach consensus on a final course of action. Each time, our parish has stepped forward in our faith to meet the needs of our parishioners. We all need to be able to worship God, to have equal ability to participate in all aspects of the Mass and religious functions.
Our parish continues to grow, nearing 700 families. Prior to the decision to build a new church, our former building on North Broad Street was filled to capacity at regular Masses and burst at the seams on special Holy Days, sacramental celebrations and holidays, spilling over into the church basement, where parishioners had to participate in Mass via live video feed. The former building, although dear to the hearts of the descendents of its builders, became too small to adequately accommodate the Rite of Christian Burial, baptism and confession. It also did not allow parishioners with disabilities to participate in Mass.
SOLUTION
We decided as a parish to build a new worship facility for 500 people on property donated by the Knights of Columbus on Route 208 west of Grove City. The $2 million building was dedicated by Bishop Donald Trautman on April 30, 2006.
VISION
Our vision does not end with the completion of the new worship space. We are still raising funds for the multi-phase project, which will include a new religious education facility and administration building with meeting rooms.
UPDATES
May 18, 2008
The Bishop’s Office has granted us a date for the dedication of our new Faith Formation and Administration wing. Kindly reserve Saturday, November 15th at the 5:15pm Mass for the blessing of the Religious Education/ Administration Building.
Also, Father has ordered new statues to be located in the courtyard of the new Beloved Disciple Faith Formation and Administration wing. These statues reflect the four patrons of our Church: St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus; Mary, The Immaculate Conception, patroness of the USA; St. Patrick, patron of the Diocese of Erie; and St. John the Beloved Disciple, patron of our parish.
The courtyard will serve as a place of quiet prayer and reflection. All statues will be manufactured with fiberglass so that the statues will last many years, yet are affordable. The finish will be antique stone-look. (Please note: The photos of St. Patrick and the Crucifix do not reflect the stone look— but will be made of that finish.)
Each statue will be mounted on a beautiful pedestal and illumined with an energy efficient low-watt spotlight for evening devotion.
Its not too late to donate towards the courtyard with memorializing opportunities for statues.
Call Dr. Alex Limkakeng at 724-458-8845 for info!
March 16, 2008
We are excited to inform the parish that we have received 28 bids from various contractors for our new Faith Formation building. We are now reviewing these bids and will have more information for you soon. In the mean time, PRAY for GOOD WEATHER so that we can dig/pour footers. Thank you.
April 24, 2007
John Gilliland of the finance committee spoke at Mass on April 24, 2007, regarding the former church building and amended plans for our new site.
The last time we spoke to you regarding building issues, we pledged to keep you informed of any changes, and while we recognize that some people have been impatiently waiting for an update, the simple truth is that there was nothing substantially new to report……until now.
For several weeks we have been in negotiations with a church from outside of Grove City that was interested in our Church, Education Building, and parking lot at the North Broad Street location. Their original offer was below our asking price, so we opted to have an appraisal done to get a fair market as-is value. The appraisal was done by an impartial, certified appraiser, and the value came back at $300,000. So, we counter offered to sell the facility at the appraised price, and on Monday April 23rd we entered into an Option Agreement for $300,000. The buyers now will have 45 days to exercise the option, or it becomes null and void. While we are cautiously optimistic the sale will be completed, a few more obstacles are yet to be overcome. When our Bishop agreed to allow us to sell the Church on North Broad Street, he placed some deed restrictions on it which quite frankly has made it difficult to market. One of his restrictions was that he wanted a perpetual clause on the deed which would state that the facility could only be used as a church. However, our buyers wanted that restriction to be for 2 years only. So we will need to get the Bishop’s approval on that change. Another obstacle, as most of you who have sold real estate know, is that the deal isn’t done until the closing papers are signed. Our buyer could have a change of heart and walk away from the deal anytime prior to the closing.
However, for planning purposes, we need to move forward as though the sale will happen.
We have always placed a high importance on our Religious Education programs, so our first thought naturally was, "what are we going to do about classroom space until we can get the Education Wing built?" Some of that fell into place in our option agreement, as we arranged to lease back the use of the Education building on North Broad Street on a Monday through Friday basis for one year. Hopefully that will be a workable solution for our grade school weekday programs. We have also made some inquiries on other available space for our Sunday classes. While nothing has been determined yet, we feel that we will be able to find some usable space. Also, the option agreement includes only the kitchen equipment in the Church Basement, so if and when this sale is consummated, we will have an immediate need for storage space for all the items still in the Church and Education Building.
The next issue is moving forward with the plans for a new Education wing at our new location. A new building committee, much like the one used in the building of the church, will need to be put in place to address the many issues which are too numerous to discuss today.
Our preliminary cost estimate for the Education wing is from $1.0M to $1.2M. Based on that cost range, we will need to raise anywhere from $400K to $600K dollars to pay for the project. We currently owe about $454K right now on our original church loan with a very favorable interest rate and term. We prefer not to restructure that loan to include any new debt; in fact, we prefer to incur no new long term debt. Once again, we have much to discuss on this issue and will not be able to do it in this limited amount of time.
One other point of discussion today involves 2 different but related projects; the moving of the bell tower, and the social hall. The bell tower project is progressing quite nicely and is being planned by a group of parishioners. We just saw the proposed plans this week. The project is very beautiful and is a very fitting tribute to our history and to the predecessors of our church community. The project has a budgeted cost of $45K. When our original project model of our new church facility was presented for approval at the Diocese prior to the beginning of the construction, we were given some words of caution about a social hall. The Diocese was concerned about liability for non-church related events, staffing costs for the management of this type of facility, and that the Church was venturing into an area that could ultimately detract from their primary purpose of providing a space for worship. However, at that time, since it was a future project there was no need to have further discussions or to gain approval from the Diocese about these concerns. But, I have to admit that the Finance Council shares the same concerns as the Diocese.
Now as to what it is that ties these 2 projects together, I will ask you to recall the original building model. As you stand in the parking lot and look at the church, the original plan called for the Education wing to be built on the right or Grove City side of the Church, and the Social hall was to be built on the left or Knights of Columbus side. The Education wing will still be on the right side, but the Bell Tower will now be placed on the left side although it will be much closer to the sidewalk than was the proposed social hall. The location was selected after much deliberation because this sign of our past deserves a prominent location, and a promise was made to all those who donated money specifically for it to do just that. It was the one project in our new church facility that allowed families and/or individuals to be recognized for their roles in the church, both past and present. Does this mean there will never be a social hall? No, it doesn’t. We recognize that that decision will be made at a later date by a specially formed committee. However, it could mean that the original plan will need to be altered to either include or avoid the Bell Tower. However, please keep in mind that our original concept was developed nearly 4 years ago, and we already recognize that even the Education Wing will require some modification because of needs that were not known or recognized at the time.
It is difficult in the short amount of time allotted today to go into much more detail. We realize that there are many other issues which we have not addressed and that some of you will have additional questions that we may not be able to answer at this time. So, we ask you to please place some trust in your Finance Council. We were selected by the Pastor to serve you and the best interests of our Church, and each of us takes that responsibility very seriously.
We will continue in our pledge to keep you informed on all major issues. However, it would be unrealistic for you to expect us to come in front of you for each and every decision that will be made going forward. And, rest assured that many of you will be asked to share your time and talent to make the Education Wing come together in a timely manner.
It hardly seems possible that we have now been in our new church for one year. Reflecting back, the path we took to get us here was littered with many obstacles and we were able to overcome them with patience, persistence, prayer, and a strong dose of faith. Implementing those same attributes will quickly enable us to get our Education wing underway. We’ve had a year off to enjoy the fruits of our labor, but now it is time to roll up our sleeves and get back to work.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
A Building Fund collection is taken up the second or third weekend of each month at Mass. Contribute what you can - even if you are just passing through. We greatly appreciate all contributions - may God bless you richly for sharing with us!
Church of the
Beloved Disciple
1310 S. Center St. Ext.
Grove City, PA 16127
**Mail to: 321 N. Broad St.
Grove City, PA 16127
724-458-7145
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Rev. Mark A. Hoffman
Pastor
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Masses:
5:15 p.m. Saturday
8:00 & 11:00 a.m. Sunday
Daily and special Masses per bulletin
Reconciliation:
4 - 5 p.m. Saturdays 4:30 - 5:00 p.m. Wednesdays
or by appointment
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