Dear Parish Family,

As you know, we recently conducted a study to see whether you, our community, are in a position to start building here at St Christopher. The results of the study are not particularly surprising to us, and now we have confirmation on how to move forward. These are exciting times as we help God to build his Kingdom here in Marana! Believe and never forget: God indeed has a plan for St. Christopher Parish.

First, we should all set our focus on the long-term vision for the parish. Through the great generosity of our parishioners, we have been able to make a beautiful and sacred worship space in our existing church building. This is fitting! After all, the spiritual nourishment of our souls through the Sacramental life of the Church is why a parish exists. Giving thanks and praise to God in the Mass is the Source and Summit of who we are. This being the case, we must all keep our eyes on the end goal of what will be a long-term project. We can all envision a new church building, even more beautiful and sacred than the one we have now. 

Holding firmly in mind the vision of someday having that new sacred space, we then ask the question, “what is next?” considering the reality of what the feasibility study has taught us. Ultimately, it appears that at this time our parish community would be able to raise between 1.5 and 2 million dollars in a capital campaign. This is great news! However, it is fairly obvious this would not be enough to accomplish the construction of a new church building that would be fitting. So, while keeping the long-term vision, we must turn our focus to what we need as a parish community and not simply what we want.

Currently, we already have a beautiful place for Holy Mass and only occasionally exceed our capacity, like on the great celebrations of Easter, Christmas, and Our Lady of Guadalupe. Our challenge is we do not have enough space in the practical sense meeting the needs of our parish’s formational and social life. As you know, the second most important thing that the parish provides is formation in the faith. Religious Education for our children, social activities and spiritual growth for our teens, and ongoing conversion throughout our lives as adults are essential. We expect that we will be spending as much as $10,000 next year for Religious Education, with most of this being to rent space. Also, having just one room with a comfortable capacity of only 50 people in our Activity Center makes scheduling various formational, social, and business-related activities very limited.

So, we will conduct a capital campaign to raise the money for the construction of a parish center that can serve as a multi-purpose building. Remember, this is not the end-vision, but rather a necessary first step on the path to God’s vision for the parish. Such a building will be flexible enough to provide for classrooms when needed or a large social hall. It can also be used for Mass on those occasions when we exceed our church building’s capacity of 200 people. This will allow the parish to flourish in building community, the living stones, to one day build the most beautiful of churches.

We are now set and ready to begin working in stages. The multi-purpose building is the first stage on this journey toward the final goal as we respond to the Lord’s call and become the spiritual home for all of Marana. Please be watchful for future messages as we move forward together.

I thank each and every one of you for your help and participation, and most importantly your prayers for this parish family and its success. I am happy and privileged to be your pastor and shepherd in this amazing community of faith.

May God bless and keep you always!

Fr. Edson
  Don’t forget to smile!