In January, the Building Committee held two parish forums to present the preliminary design plans to the parish at large.  The architectural plans were well received, generating valuable discussion and questions.  Here are some of the questions and answers.

Questions about the New Addition (Gathering & Christian Formation Spaces)

Q.  Will the new main entrance be handicapped accessible?

            Yes, there will be sloped walks from the sidewalk to the new main entrance.  There will be a power-assisted door at the new main entrance for those who need it. 

Q.  Will the new addition match the existing church brickwork?

            Yes, we can purchase bricks that will look very much like the existing church.  Re-using the brick from the rectory would be more costly than buying new bricks.

Q.  Will I be able to enter the Worship Space without walking through a large event (such as a pancake breakfast) in the Gathering Space?

            Yes, there is a dedicated area leading from the main entrance to the Worship Space that will not be obstructed by tables, keeping an 18-foot wide path to the doors.

Q.  If the Christian Formation program is in session, where will groups (such as Holy Name or Christian Women) meet?

            The Christian Formation program will not need to use the Gathering Space.  Since the Gathering Space will have moveable walls, groups such as Christian Women and Holy Name can still meet in a section of the Gathering Space, closed off by moveable walls, with direct access to the kitchen. 

Q.  Will the families for Christian Formation arrive at the same time as mass?

            No.  Mass times and Christian Formation times will be adjusted.  Our preliminary ideas for mass times are 4:00 on Saturday, and 7:30, 9:30, and 11:15 on Sunday.  The 9:30 am mass would be the main family mass with the choir.

Q.  Will there be natural light in the lower level rooms?

            Yes, we will make every effort to incorporate window wells to bring natural light to the lower level where possible.

Q.  Will there be a “front desk” or a place for SCRIP sales, flower sales, etc?

            Yes, we will have a set of moveable kiosks (or workstations) that can be placed anywhere in the Gathering Space.  One of them can have a phone and computer that can serve as a “Sunday office” or front desk when needed.

Q.  What will the kitchen be able to accommodate?

            The kitchen will be able to host events such as a pancake breakfast.  216 people could be seated at rectangular tables in the Gathering Space at one time.  The kitchen will be able cook food for Christian Women and Holy Name breakfasts.  It will also be able to serve the food at funeral luncheons, although the food would have to be brought in by the caterer if the family chooses this option.  The kitchen will not have fryers to host a fish fry or large events.  That would happen at our school site.

Q.  Do we have enough exits?  Will there be a “log jam” of people at the doors?

            We hope to create a reason for people to linger in the Gathering Space with social events before and after mass.  There are enough exits to comply with fire codes.  We may have to wait slightly as we exit, but no longer than we do currently.

Questions about the remodeling of the existing Worship Space

Q.  Why bring the altar and sanctuary forward?

            The distance from the altar to the back corner is currently about 110 feet.  We hope to move the altar closer so that we can worship as one family, gathered around the altar, creating a more intimate relationship.  Bringing the altar to the front of the existing sanctuary requires leveling part of the nave floor and building a new sanctuary platform.  The pews on either side of this platform will face the altar, and the distance to the back corner will be reduced to 85 feet.

Q.  Are we going to level the entire floor in the church?

            No.  Only the floor at the front of the nave (closest to the altar) will be leveled.

Q.  What about the railings in the sanctuary?

            The lower railing would be removed and saved, possibly re-using it in another way.  The upper railing would remain, but be changed to meet current building codes.  

Q.  Will turning the choir sideways affect the acoustics?

            No.  Our church building has wonderful acoustics for music. Turning the choir will make them more a part of the assembly. The sound system will be upgraded to help us hear the spoken word more clearly.

Q.  What would happen to the canopy over the altar?

            The baldachin (or canopy) over the altar would be removed because the altar would no longer be directly underneath it.

Q.  What would happen to the mosaic behind the altar?

            The building committee’s recommendation is to keep the main part of the mosaic as is and light it more beautifully to enhance its devotional beauty.  To do this, we recommend covering the uppermost part of the mosaic and creating a new, curved canopy above the cross.  The mosaic itself would be restored and cleaned.

Q.  How will the bell tower be used?  Will we still hear the bells?

            The main floor level of the bell tower will be used for storage of chairs and tables.  We will still hear the bells. 

Q.  If the altar is moved forward, what happens to the existing sanctuary?

            The existing sanctuary would become a daily mass chapel and a place for Eucharistic adoration.  A low dividing wall would separate the nave and sanctuary from the daily mass chapel.  At the middle of this wall, directly behind the altar, would be the tabernacle.  The tabernacle would have doors on two sides. 

Q.  How would you heat the daily mass chapel without heating the entire church?

            Small, recessed wall heaters would warm people at daily mass in Winter.  The church is cool enough in the morning in Summer that air conditioning is not an issue.

Q.  Is there a crying room in the plans?

            No.  Parents who need to step out for a moment can use the Gathering Space. 

Q.  What is the reason for placing the baptismal font near the entrance?

            Baptism is our common entrance into the Church.  It makes a powerful statement when we can all enter the church and take water from a common font.  This location also allows for the blessing of a casket and it is close to the reconciliation room.  Of course, the drawback is that it is difficult to see baptisms during mass.  To fix that, we could incorporate the use of video screens in the front of church (above the current Joseph and Mary statues) to be able to see the font without turning around.  These screens could also be used for many other purposes.

Q.  Where can we put our nativity scene?

            We could find a place in the Worship Space for it.  Or, we could put it in a prominent spot in the Gathering Space, perhaps a spot by windows where it could be seen from the inside and the outside. 

Q.  Can we reuse our stained glass and treasures from other sites?

            Yes.  There are possibilities of using art glass in the Gathering Space, in the reconciliation room window, in the dividing wall in the sanctuary, and other places.  Along with glass, statues or other devotional treasures from the four sites could be incorporated into the renovated Worship Space at Marquette Avenue.

Q.  Is there enough room for funeral visitations in the area designated for the casket in the back of the church?

            The area near the baptismal font designated for funeral visitations is 17 feet long.  This should be enough room for a casket, flowers, memorabilia, and other items.  If a funeral visitation is too large for this area, the Gathering Space could be used or the family may choose to have visitation at the funeral home.

Financial and Other Questions:

Q.  How long will construction take?  Where will we go in the meantime?

            Construction would take about 12 months.  Our contractors would minimize the amount of time we could not worship in the Marquette Avenue church.  In the meantime, we could have mass at College Avenue without changing the schedule.

Q.  When would the construction start?

            If the parish and the archdiocese find the plans acceptable, and finances work out for us, we could begin construction as soon as the Fall of 2009. 

Q.  What is the approximate cost of the entire project?

            The estimated costs are still in line with our initial projections of approximately four million dollars.  The project could be done in two phases if needed.

Q.  How much does the parish have in savings to devote to this project?

            The finance council is deciding how much of our parish savings would be appropriate to use towards this building project.  We, as a parish family, have been very fortunate to have no debt, balanced budgets, and savings.  Much of our savings is thanks to the money from our four former parishes.  Our current savings totals over three million. 

Q.  What other revenue sources can we use to pay for this project?

            Our parish pledged over $600,000 to the Faith in Our Future campaign.  Of that total, 60% comes back to the parish.  So we expect approximately $400,000 from that capital campaign.  We also have some property that could be sold.  The rest of the total cost of the project would be paid for by re-starting the Faith in Our Future campaign or donations directly to the parish. 

Q.  Why not sell property first and then build later?

            There are two reasons we cannot do this.  First, we need all of our buildings right now.  Our ministries have blossomed because we have space for all of them right now.  Second, the current economy has kept construction costs low.  Even though it is difficult to ask for money in this economy, it would be a good use of parish resources to build when the cost is low and sell property later.

Q.  How did we arrive at the decision to build and renovate the Marquette site?

Our merger was in the Summer of 2003.  In May 2004, the archdiocese said Divine Mercy should have two priests as long as possible, but be prepared for the possibility of someday having only one priest.  The Long Term Planning committee studied the possible models for the future of our parish.  In October 2005, the parish council decided we should pursue a two-site option: a worship site (Marquette Avenue) and a school site (yet to be determined).  In October 2006, we began our unified weekend worship site at Marquette Avenue at the same time as our Family Model of Christian Formation started at 16^th Avenue.  Merging these two facets of our parish life (Eucharist and Christian Formation) at the worship site matched the goals of the archdiocesan Faith in Our Future campaign.

Q.  Can the parish at large comment about the project?

            The parish can comment at any time by contacting a member of the building committee (Joe Dulka, Fr. Bob, Teresa Piraino, Judi Backes, Fr. Steve, Cathy Wendt, Chuck Kendall, Rich Lussier, or Chris Sepersky), by writing or calling the parish office (be sure to leave your name so we know whom to contact), or by emailing Chris Sepersky at seperskyc@archmil.org