Saint Gabriel's Catholic Church

Steering Committee Members
Paul Bishop
Jim Faaborg
Marilyn Houser -Funeral Coordinator
Blanca Araujo - Hispanic Ministry
Martha Lyles - Religious Education
Mark Sutherlin - Sanctity of Life
Frank Uram
Adam Vanni - Music
Jan Wakelin
Daniel White - Liturgical Consultant

The Steering Committee, working with our architect and liturgical consultant, has been making steady progress on our site plan. This past week we met again to continue the discussion regarding the location options for the New Worship Space on our new land. We have been working on the integration of several factors such as property elevations, entrance road locations, relationships to existing buildings, flow of people, parking lots, and views to name a few. All of these factors andmore are being evaluated in an effort to create a site plan that will best meet our needs.

The committee will meet again on February 7th with our architect to evaluate additional refinements to the site plan proposal. We are currently planning a Parish update meeting on February 26th. At this meeting we will share the site plan proposal we feel best meets our needs and review the factors and options considered in its development. It is important to note the site plan does not cover the design of the exterior or interior of the new Worship Space, that work has not yet begun, it will happen in the next phase.

Fall 2004 Update

We realize it has been awhile since the last update but rest assured work hasn’t stopped and progress is being made. Here’s a brief summary of what has taken place since the last update.

Phase 1 of our new Worship space journey, required by the Dioceses, has been completed. The Parish has been educated on a wide range of liturgical topics and possibilities through a series of presentations giving to us by our Liturgical consultant Sister Marilyn Morgan. In addition, the initial needs assessment has been completed, potential liturgical issues identified and solutions explored. The written needs assessment, completed during the Advisory group sessions, has been provided to the architect and the Diocese.

We are now in Phase 2, the master planning and preliminary design step, of our journey. As we entered this phase, we decided to make a few changes. The team decided to work more directly with our architect and hire a new Liturgical consultant that better fit the needs of our Parish. After consulting with the Diocese, discussions with our architect, and interviews we
have selected Dan White as our new Liturgical consultant. In addition to entering Phase 2, we are closing out the last step in the land dealings we have undertaken. As you recall, we
were able to purchase the land directly behind our property earlier this year after the School District land swap did not work out. In addition, we recently negotiated a deal and purchased the house directly next to this property and just behind our
church. This purchase will make access to our new Worship space property much easier, ultimately less expensive, and provide a new rectory on our property. To offset most of the cost for the new rectory we decided to sell Father Michael’s house
and we are currently in escrow.

Now that all the land negotiations and deals have come to a close and we have all our site boundaries defined the architects have begun potential master site layout plans. The steering committee will continue to work directly with the architect and
new liturgical consultant over the next couple months preparing 3 or 4 preliminary design configurations based on the needs assessment the Parish developed. The plans will be reviewed with the Dioceses and presented to the Parish in January most likely for us to reach consensus on a preferred plan.

The following is a list of the current Steering Committee members. Recall these people volunteered, were selected from key ministries, or were members of the original building committee with specific talents we require. After discussions with the architect and liturgical consultant it was decided to adjust the size of the group to 12 people with as much diversity of representation as possible.

Paul Bishop Janis Dolan Jim Faaborg Mary Freeman
Marilyn Houser Blanca Labunog Martha Lyles Joe Schreiber
Mark Sutherlin Frank Uram Adam Vanni Jan Wakelin

Thanks again for your continued support, patience, and interest in our awesome undertaking. We still have a long and exciting journey ahead of us and together, with God’s Grace, the coming year will bring renewed excitement and many tangible
results for all of us.

New Property Views

Building Committee Update - As of Feb 1st, 2004

The advisory committee was formed with 100 volunteers who represented the parish. The commitee reflected the diversity of our parish and helped develop the needs and wants of our new worship space.

The requirements are:
1. Be a registered parishioner
2. Read Built of Living Stones-Art, Architecture, and
Worship (Guidelines of the National Conference of
Catholic Bishops). The document is available for
viewing at http://www.usccb.org/liturgy/livingstonesind.htm.
3. Attend all of the planning sessions
4. Attend 3 out of 4 advisory meetings.

Dates of sessions (2003):
1. Gathering– Thurs. February 19th (7-9pm)-completed
2. Seating– Wed. March 3rd (7-9pm)-completed
3. Liturgy of the Eucharist / Blessed Sacrament Chapel– Thurs. March 18th (7-9pm)completed
4. Baptistry– Fri. April 30th (7-9pm)completed
5. Reconciliation Chapel /Music Space-Fri. May 14th (7-9pm)completed
6. Shrines and Images / Art and Environment-Fri. June 25th (7-9pm)completed

Advisory Meetings (2003):
#1 Fri. February 20th 7-9pm and Sat. February 21st 9:30-1:30pm-completed
#2 Sat. May 1st 9:30-1:30pm-completed
#3 Sat. May 15th 9:30-1:30pm-completed
#4 Sat. June 26th 9:30-1:30pm-completed

As you may recall from previous update meetings we have already hired an architectural firm (Steele Group) and recently a liturgical consultant will be working with our entire parish community to help guide us through the next phase of the project called the Formation Phase. During the next 6 months we will be working together to establish the needs and wants of the parish community. These will be communicated to the architects who will then develop plans for the Worship Space and surroundings to meet those needs. As part of this process several sessions will be held covering a variety of topics relative to our Worship Space design. The sessions will be 2 hours long and occur approximately 1 month apart.

SACRED SPACE
This session will focus on what makes places holy for us in both the secular and the religious world.

GATHERING
This session will focus on how the church can provide places for people to gather both before and after the liturgies and why this is important for our liturgies.

SEATING OF THE ASSEMBLY
This session will look at different churches and discuss how people are seated in relationship to the focal points of what is happening in the liturgy. We will also discuss the effects this has on both the people and on the liturgy.

LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST/ BLESSED SACRAMENT CHAPEL
Part One of this session will walk us through the liturgy and talk about the kind of space that is needed to carry out the liturgy as the church calls us to do it. Part Two of the session will discuss the placement of the Blessed Sacrament in the Church building.

BAPTISTRY
This session will look at the placement of baptismal fonts within the church and also look at the different shapes of fonts.

RECONCILIATION CHAPEL/ A SPACE FOR MUSIC
Part One of this session will look at how we can create a chapel, a sacred place, for the reception of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Part Two will discuss the many factors that go into deciding where to place the musicians and the musical instruments within the worship space.

SHRINES AND IMAGES/ ART AND ENVIRONMENT
This session will discuss how we honor the saints and where to create shrines for them so that they can be accessible for our private devotions. Art is everywhere you look in a worship space. We will discuss what items need to be considered when you think of things that are used for liturgy.

We invite and encourage everyone to come to these sessions. After the 1st session and through the month of February we will be forming an advisory committee to work with the Liturgical consultant. We are looking for about 100 volunteers to represent the parish and participate in this committee. The committee should represent the diversity of our parish and help to develop the needs and wants of our new Worship Space. There will be further discussion regarding the expectations of this committee and the relatively small time commitment required at the 1st session so please come to learn more about the advisory committee. We encourage everyone to attend all the sessions whether you join the advisory committee or not because they will be great learning experiences for everyone.

If you have any questions please contact Father Michael or the parish office.