St. Patrick’s Parish
Fr. Peter Keller
RR#1 Sebringville
N0K 1x0
393-6187
393-6047 FAX
pkeller@rcec.london.on.ca
August
7, 2003
Dear Parishioners:
This is a special time for renewal at St. Patrick’s Church, Kinkora.
The original building of St. Patrick’s was a great act of faith,
meant not just to satisfy the needs of the time but to inspire future
generations. This magnificent
structure now challenges our generation to carry it into the future.
The following information is being sent to you to inform you of
the current status of the serious state of repair of the St. Patrick’s
Church structure. An extensive
and exhaustive review by the Building Committee, the Interior Restoration
Committee, the Advisory Board, Marklevitz Architects, Diocesan
representatives, hired consultants and construction professionals has been
undertaken. It has been
confirmed that extensive work on the building must be done. To complete the entire restoration and to ensure the
building’s continued viability, we need to dedicate ourselves to raise $1.5
million. It is determined
that this is the absolute upper limit including all work, materials, interest
charges and contingencies.
We realize that this amount is far greater than we had anticipated.
However, options to reduce this cost have been considered.
One of the options to reduce the cost would be to do only certain
renovations at this time. However, thorough investigations have found delaying and
staging certain renovations are not feasible.
Doing some of the work at later dates increases the total costs
dramatically when high priced items such as scaffolding need to be put up and
taken down several times over several years.
Our church renovation is something that requires your deepest
attention. We are appealing to
you to become more informed about the details of the project and to
participate in confirming how much you will donate towards its
completion. To date, funds in the
amount of $200,000 are on deposit for the Church Restoration.
Attached are calculations of how the parishioners could pay for this
restoration project. It only represents a proposed structure as to how we could
raise the needed capital for this expenditure.
The founding fathers of this Church sacrificed a great deal of time,
talent and treasure to establish this parish.
Now it is our turn.
This is a very serious matter. While no one has condemned the Church
structure, if it is not repaired this will be a real possibility in the
future. A scope of the proposed
work involved is included. Please
feel free to contact the members of the various committees listed for further
details.
Thank you for giving this matter the attention and commitment it
deserves.
Sincerely,
Father Peter Keller, The St. Patrick’s Advisory Board, The Building
Committee, The Interior Restoration Committee