Blessings are a gift from God, and St. Alphonsus is blessed that our ministries continue to grow each year. To accommodate our growth we are building a new parish activity center which will benefit our entire parish. The new facility will have a dividable banquet hall, more meeting space, and will be larger and a more efficient building for events. It will include a full kitchen for cooking/serving, and an outdoor pavilion. Our church ministries and our school will have a beautiful venue for adults, youth, and children for activities including retreats, banquets, parish receptions, meetings, and other celebrations. The parish activity center will also limit the demand on the Family Center (Gym) and church meeting rooms, which are currently used to capacity by both our church and school ministries.
The church has 2.5 million dollars in its Building Fund, which up to that amount will be used for the 50% required by the Diocese of Baton Rouge to obtain a loan. We will use all of the profits from our future Auctions & Festivals and our monthly Building Collection to pay back the loan as quickly as possible. St. Alphonsus School has 2 million dollars in its Savings Fund, which will not be used for this project. These plans will not affect the school operating budget, which is based on tuition and fees and assistance from the church. The budget does not depend on savings or Auction/Festival profits for ongoing operations. The Pastoral Advisory Council, the Church Finance Council, and School Finance Committee all support this plan.
The loan from the diocese was approved, and Fr. Mike signed the contract with Firmin Construction on September 23, 2022. Firmin Construction began preparing the property for construction on September 26, 2022.
Our beautiful new Parish Activity Center opened in September 2023! Your support for this project will bring many blessings and new opportunities to our entire parish. We look forward to enjoying this building with all of our parishioners for many years!
Special envelopes for the Generation to Generation campaign are included for those who receive envelope packets each month.