The Entire Thought

The Method to the Madness of Fundraising

Today’s feast of the Baptism of the Lord marks the end of the Christmas Season and the beginning of Ordinary Time. In one swift week, the Church’s liturgies have whisked us from the infancy of
Jesus to his baptism when “he was about thirty years of age” (Luke 3:23). Of the years in between, the evangelists mention nothing
except for how the “boy wonder” taught in the temple when he was twelve, and then went to Nazareth where he “advanced in wisdom and age and favor” (Luke 2:41-52). Sometimes I think that the
building project at Holy Name has been progressing with such
rapidity. Unlike the gospels, however, I am in a position to fill in the details that may still be mysterious to many. Briefly, then, this is how it has grown:

After the parish development committee consulted with
parishioners and Eidos Architects, we gave birth to the schematic drawings which are now posted in the church. They show the Master Plan—our ultimate goal—and Phase 1—the first step towards this goal. After gaining approval from the Archdiocese of Denver’s Project Financing Review Committee, we have now officially begun to raise the funds for Phase 1. The Archdiocese has asked us to retain the counsel of the Cosgriff Company (which did our feasibility study) as we progress into a capital campaign. Cosgriff recommends the
standard process of spending some time soliciting major gifts before we kick-off the general solicitation phase. This is where we are at present. To maintain the metaphor, one could say that the project has been “baptized” in the sense that there were only a few witnesses on the riverbank.

But Holy Name is a unique parish demanding a unique
fundraising approach. The development committee has chosen to seize the opportunity of the peak ski season to invite our many visitors to contribute to the building project. This is the reason for the building fund envelopes, brochures, response cards and second collections. These are ways in which we are inviting our visitors to help expand our facilities. They enable many who would rather remain anonymous to contribute toward our goal. Uncomfortable as it may be, the
second collections at Mass from December 23rd to January 1st earned $43,628!

The visitors, of course, are not the only reason to expand our church, so they are not the only ones invited to pay for it. The
growing number of local parishioners will also be asked to help. As mentioned above, we are now soliciting major gifts and preparing for the general solicitation phase. Every registered household in our data base will be personally invited to contribute to the project, either in the first or second phase, through a sacrificial gift or pledge. The second collection at Mass is primarily targeted at those who are not in our data base.

I invite you to hope and pray with me that, through the various fundraising efforts, we will raise the $5 million we need to build our new church. And when the time comes, let us all put that hope and prayer into action for the greater glory of God and the loving service of our neighbor.

Fr. Ernest Bayer

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