Church Rebuilding News

Announcement of Architect Selection
December 21/22, 2002

Our Building Committee has a Christmas gift for the parish! I am pleased to announce that after 6 months and 15 meetings of our Building Committee, numerous meetings of the architect selection sub-committee, Building Committee visits to several churches designed by the architects under consideration, and after a careful check of references, a unanimous recommendation for the choice of the architect to partner with us for the design of our new house of worship has been made to me.

Selected from the 22 firms that sent materials for our consideration, 6 firms were invited to a site visit and informal interview in September. From that group of six, 4 firms were requested to submit a formal proposal and were interviewed by the entire 16 member Building Committee on December 9th and 10th

I have concurred with the recommendation of our Building Committee, and we have selected the architectural firm of Ruck-Pate, from Barrington, Illinois. Some local recent Ruck-Pate projects include St. Anne in Barrington, Prince of Peace in Lake Villa, and St. Teresa of Avila in Chicago. Ruck-Pate has been in business for 27 years. In future bulletin articles and the next edition of our Building Committee newsletter "The Messenger", more details and information will be given about the firm. We are excited and confident in Ruck-Pate's abilities to partner with us to design a most inspiring house of worship that will be a living expression of our faith now and for future generations at St. Michael's.

The New Year 2003 will be a most exciting one for all of us at St. Michael's! In preparation for parishioner input to the design phase, our liturgical consultant Michael DeSanctis will present workshops on worship and architectural settings on the weekend of January 18th and 19th. We encourage as many parishioners as possible to attend.

Parishioners and neighbors surrounding St. Michael's will be invited to working sessions with the architect. These sessions will most likely take place in February. Please watch the bulletin and newsletter for further information.

I wish to thank the parishioners on our Building Committee for the countless hours and commitment they have already made. We all look forward to working together with the parish community to build our new house of worship. We pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in this most important parish undertaking.

· Fr. Don McLaughlin
Pastor

Building the New St. Michael Church

How Long Will It Take? When Will We Begin?
Those are the two questions on everyone’s mind. Building a new church today is a lengthy process. Consideration has to be given to Church and Diocesan liturgical documents and policies, city and county codes - in other words, a lot of “red tape”. Our Building Committee is currently interviewing architects with the goal a selecting one by December 2002. In early 2003 we will begin the design phase with parishioner input. Once the Diocese of Joliet approves our design we will kick-off our capital drive to supplement insurance funds. When we have two-thirds of the cost of rebuilding in the bank, construction can begin. Typically construction of a church takes 12 to 14 months.

Who Is On The Building Committee?
The 13 parishioners on the Building Committee are: Rich Armbrust, David Balane, Bill Davis, Leo Dreisilker, Mike Gresk, Andy Joseph, Sue Kania, Lori Newsham, Julie Schauer, Philip Spittler, Mary Toohey, Dan Vallaro, and Christopher Zinski. They represent expertise and experience in the following fields: architect, engineer, project manager, finance, building trades, communications, legal, art and liturgy. Three staff members also serve on the Committee: Pat Komar, Business Manager; Fr. Matthew Hughes, Parochial Vicar; and Fr. Don McLaughlin, Pastor

How Much Will It Cost?
At present we don’t know. We do know that there are three new churches presently under construction in the Diocese of Joliet. They range in cost from $7.5 to $8.8 million. We expect to receive an insurance settlement in excess of $4 million.

How Can I Help?
Start making monthly donations to the Building Fund by using the special envelope that will be included in your monthly packet beginning this November.

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St. Michael Parish
315 West Illinois St.
Wheaton, IL 60187
630.665.2250