Blessed Today, Blessing Tomorrow is a campaign that is significant to all parishioners. The Steering Committee is leading the charge to realize the $5 million goal, and their interest in the campaign’s success is no different from that of all of the members of the St. Josaphat community. As our parish thrives, our facility needs increase. Both church and school buildings will be greatly affected by the improvements this campaign will fund.
Lisa and Patrick Koehl have been active in a many areas of St. Josaphat parish life. As members of the Steering Committee, they were asked to comment on their dedication to Blessed Today, Blessing Tomorrow.
We stumbled onto St. Josaphat Parish ten years ago when we were looking for a place to attend Mass. Over the following decade, we were welcomed into the parish community and St. Josaphat became the host to countless meaningful events for our family: our wedding, Lisa's baptism, the baptism of our children. Beyond these events, St. Josapaht has filled up our weeks with friends, fellowship, and faith. The gifts we have been given by this community far outweigh any contribution of our "time, talent, or treasure." Our helping to facilitate this campaign seems a natural acknowledgement of all the gifts St. Josaphat has given us and allows us to share those gifts with parishioners and students in the decades to come. This campaign is yet another example of St. Jospahat demonstrating what it truly means to be a community. We've met so many new people and have been continually inspired by their dedication and tireless commitment. Their sacrifices and prayerful consideration of this campaign have made it an honor for us to be a part of Blessed Today, Blessing Tomorrow.
Lisa and Patrick Koehl
Hi my name is Patrick Koehl. For those of you I haven’t met, Lisa (my wife) and I have 2 boys – John Paul who just started Kindergarten and Teddy who is in 3 year old pre-school.
Lisa and I stumbled onto St. Josaphat’s ten years ago when we were looking for a place to attend Mass one weekend. Over the following decade, we have been welcomed into the parish community and St. Josaphat has been the host to many meaningful events for our family including our wedding, the baptism of our kids, the 1st day of school for the boys – just to mention a few. Beyond these events, the church and community has given us friends, offered fellowship and enriched our faith.
When we were originally asked to participate and contribute to the capital campaign, my immediate reaction was that asking for money or giving money in the current economy is probably at the absolute bottom on the list of things I wanted to do. Not to mention talking about it in front of a couple hundred people!
But, needless to say, Lisa and I spent quite a bit of time talking about it and the thing we kept coming back to was that the gifts we had been given by this community far outweighed any contribution of our time or resources. It seemed to us that helping to facilitate this campaign and of course contributing to it was a natural acknowledgement of all the gifts the community has given to us.
OK – so we were sold and would help out – now what about our gift?
As Lisa and I thought and prayed about our gift, we quickly came to realize that we needed to be considering more than just loose change in our pockets – just do the math! This was more than writing a quick check and calling it done.
What we realized is that our gift had to be about making a sacrifice. We’ve always been charitable givers, but it was always “in addition to” things we wanted to do for ourselves. This was the first time we stopped and thought about giving perhaps giving “instead of” some of the things that were on our immediate list.
Of course, it seems like a bad time for a capital campaign, but the truth is – there is never a good time to ask for money. It just comes down to whether or not you are willing to make a sacrifice – And maybe it’s always a good time to make a sacrifice. As we thought about it, the phrase that stuck in our mind was from the gospel of Luke where Jesus said, “To much that has been given, much is expected.”
What we have seen since becoming involved in this campaign is people canceling home improvements and additions and putting off vacations to reallocate resources to the campaign. It was these actions that inspired Lisa and me to get involved and with this in mind, we made our contribution.
Ultimately, I think our gift was not so much about how much we were giving, but rather how we thought…and prayed….and thought ..and prayed (and argued) about the sacrifice. So, I encourage you to spend some time thinking and praying, not just about what resources are currently available – but to what might be a true sacrificial gift based on prayer and careful consideration – a gift that will not only benefit you and your children in an immediate sense through the school construction, but also in a long term spiritual sense.
Thank you for your time and I hope everyone has a great school year.
You may recall that David and I or our campaign co-chairs Julie and Larry Krema spoke to you in May about our initial plans for the Capital Campaign, Blessed Today, Blessing Tomorrow… and we are speaking to you again today, because now we have so much more to share. We are officially launching our campaign this weekend to raise $5M for St Josaphat parish. The Campaign committee will be hosting hospitality after mass today; we hope that you will join us.
It’s important to be educated about the campaign so that you all can be as excited as we are. Anything we will be speaking of today is included in the materials that you will receive today, Newman Architects who were chosen to help us with the master plan for the parish campus and school addition have a first draft of drawings and renderings for you to view and discuss and our Campaign website is now available as well. Also, at anytime you should feel free to ask David or I or any of the committee members and questions. One of the materials you will receive contains all our names and contact information.
The $5M we raise will be invested in this priority in the following way:
$2M for new classrooms that accommodate the current and growing enrollment in our school
$2M for necessary infrastructure repairs of our Parish Hall, School, Church and Rectory.
$1M to repay last year’s loan for the construction of new bathrooms in the lower Parish Hall, repair and repainting of the Gym, creation of 2 new classrooms, and renovating of several existing classrooms as well as beginning required life/safety upgrades to the school.
While some have questioned, why now? Why in this economy? The reality is that these needs were identified several years ago and even with the beginning of our campaign today, many of these real time needs will still not be met for several years. Simply, we cannot wait any longer. Some might even contend that in a tighter economy we are more aware of our true needs and priorities and where we should invest our resources.
St Josaphat parish is really important to David and me. We were married here 20 years ago last week, and this community has been an unending source of friendship, education, joy, fellowship, inspiration and faith for our entire family.
When we agreed to co-chair this Campaign, it wasn’t because we were looking for something to take every last minute of our spare and sometimes already committed time or for the opportunity to pledge more money than we thought we ever would or could commit. But we did agree and willingly.
It was out of gratitude for everything this community has been and will continue to be for us and for so many others. Our gratitude for the community that so warmly and unconditionally welcomed a young Catholic girl and her Jewish fiancé to celebrate their marriage with a priest and a rabbi standing beside the chupa adorning this very alter.
Our gratitude for a community that continues to help us raise our children Max and Anna. Not just for the teachers and staff of St Josaphat School who for the last 12 years taught and guided them, and the Rel Ed teachers that will help Anna prepare for her confirmation in two years – but for all of you that act as role models for how they should live – how they should love and how they show respect to one another.
Today we invite you to begin your own process of deciding how you will participate in this campaign. We need your support not just financially but also as members and advocates of what this Campaign means for our present and our future.
You will not find a pledge form in the materials you receive today. We are not asking for your pledge today. What we are hoping is that you begin the thoughtful and prayerful process of making a sacrificial gift. That you consider what is actually within the means of your family to contribute. Educate yourself fully as to how your pledge will be used, kick the tires, understand the impact your gift will make.
We are not asking you to go without food once a week or not cloth yourselves or heat or cool your home, but we are asking you to consider a pledge from your substance, not just your abundance. To go beyond what you might at a first glance think is possible
We are a sophisticated parish, we like numbers; we want to know what is expected of us. So, if we were to create an average giving target for the parish, we would have to base it on a set of parameters like the number of families giving annually regularly to the Sunday/holiday collections or perhaps the total number of religious education and school families.
And if we did that then we would have to set our target between $20k and $25k per family. But we don’t want to do that. Why? Wouldn’t that be so much easier?
We don’t believe that it would ultimately accomplish our goal, either financially or for that of being a truly inclusive community where all feel they are welcome and appreciated.
Some parishioners are capable of giving far more than $25k – and will. And some cannot fathom this amount even over 10 or 20 years, let alone over our 3 year campaign. We are asking that each of you consider your gift, thoughtfully, prayerfully and sacrificially and know that all contributions are appreciated equally and gratefully.
Please don’t fear the campaign. Do not be concerned that you will be judged by your gift. When you do receive a pledge form, you will see that all pledges are returned confidentially to Fr Rich. It is exclusively up to you with whom you share your pledge.But we do ask that you make a pledge. We are all capable of some commitment to the blessings that we share.
I am please to share that from some of the parishioners that we began speaking to recently, already we have received $1.1M in pledges. Wow! Great! Thank you! Help us keep going! We are all in this together.
Since we’ve already spoken longer than the sum-total of all Fr. Mike’s homilies since his arrival at St. Josaphat, I’d like to leave you with a final thought.
Life is busy, and life is stressful enough without the pressure of a capital campaign. Please don’t make this something that it’s not. We do not want your community, your parish, your friends to make you feel bad. And we especially don’t want you to run the other way when you see us!
Think, pray, talk, argue, cry, smile, laugh and make a decision that you feel good about. That you feel great about. Join the process – we need you – we all need each other – I promise if you spend the time to get engaged, it will in a profound way make you feel even more connected than you already are. We’ll see you after mass at hospitality.
