Development

 Multi-Purpose Facility

Our goal, which was inaugurated on Easter 2016, was to organize a Capital Campaign between 2015-2017 to raise $2 million for the church hall which seats 340 people and serves as a facility for worship purposes, meetings, gatherings, and perpetual adoration.

Mass is offered at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. (Spanish) on Saturday and at 8 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. (family) on Sunday. Religious Education from 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. began in September 2016.

THE FUTURE[spacer height=”-15px”]

Close to 100 parishioners turned out for the Town Hall Meeting. Wayne Munson and Bob Eggleston presented a slideshow outlining our current financial status and the feasibility of projects which had been discussed and established in our initial five project plan. Upon the completion and mortgage satisfaction of our current Parish Hall, it was assumed we would move into the next phase of building our Church, Middle School, and rectory. At the meeting we learned that the Diocese has purchased a new tract of land in Wildlight and our future development will be influenced by their decisions regarding the land. We currently do not have sufficient land to build a new church and middle school on the Parish Hall site.  Substantial development is planned in Wildlight and the Diocese believes that the location will make a Catholic Complex easily available to a greater number of parishioners.  Since there currently are many unknown factors, it was decided by a vote of those present at the meeting to focus on finishing up our current “It is in Giving That You Receive” Capital Campaign and devoting future resources to the improvement of our drainage system, parking, and build a pavilion type structure to serve as an outdoor social gathering place for events.

The Financial Outlook for St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Mission, Yulee, Florida

Dear members of the St. Francis community,

As we approach Thanksgiving, Advent Christmas, and are poised to start another great New Year, it is appropriate to reflect upon some of the accomplishments of our community. Paramount of all, we have grown in faith through the Mass, the Sacraments, in the outreach ministries, and during community and liturgical activities. For these, we are truly thankful, and very hopeful for the future.
Financially, we have met our obligations and are in good overall fiscal health to address the normal rhythm and flow of another Liturgical year. There have been some successes, as well as some disappointments, but isn’t that what we should expect?

We concluded the formal period of the “It is in giving that we receive capital campaign” on December 31, 2017. The total amount “raised” to date of $2,724,335 included gifts of cash made between 2007 and 2014, the proceeds from the sale of the property to the State of Florida, new campaign period (2014-2017) gifts in cash, multi-payment pledges, as well as gifts-in-kind of materials. Of the total, we realized $2,629,763, for a very healthy fulfillment rate of 95%. We were able to meet our $466,000 mortgage obligation in February 2018, thus eliminating all our construction debt. In addition, there are still a few multi-payment pledges made late in the campaign that should complete before December 2018. While we no longer have any construction debt, all building fund campaign revenue will remain in the “capital account” to be used only for capital projects.
The stewardship account which provides operations funding to administer the parish’s activities was also robustly supported. Weekly contributions averaged nearly $7500 and generally met the routine annual needs of the parish, while adding an appropriate sum for reserves against unforeseen events and minor facility capital expenses. The annual budget information will be provided separately. Suffice it to say that we met our needs on time and to budget.

By now we have all received several “end-of-year” pleas for charitable contributions. We would hope that if St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Mission is one of your top charities, you could make a tax-wise end-of-year charitable gift to the parish. If you do plan to do so, please consider the impact of your gift in addressing either or both the operational and the future capital building needs we face.
As an aside, some members may seek to make direct gifts from an investment or bank account. These often arrive directly without identifying information, so if you intend to make such a gift, please advise either our Bookkeeper, Kathy Junker, or Wayne Munson, the Fundraising Committee Chairman, so that we can properly credit your generous gift.
This has been an interesting and often challenging year for the St. Francis community. But it has been a blessed and purposeful one, as well, thanks to your generous giving of personal “time”, your God-given “talent”, and your precious “treasure”.

Thank you for all you are, and for all you do,

Fr. Rafal

What Are We Going To Build And When? Approximately 80 St. Francis congregants attended the October 22, 2017 meeting regarding this subject.

Following a condensed history and financial performance for St. Francis since our early inception in August 2007 at Yulee United Methodist Church, several facility options were presented and discussed as possible next steps for our Mission Church.

Options included a permanent Sanctuary, an “owned” Priest residence, additional Administration and PRE space, Social Gathering space, and completion of deferred items from our original building project (mainly roadways, parking and drainage).

The potential impact of the Terrapointe Wildlight Development was addressed, and information obtained earlier in the week from the Bishop and Diocesan Leaders was shared. In addition to the previously announced decision to locate an Early Development Center and a Catholic Elementary School in Wildlight, the Diocese has now concluded that they want to build a Sanctuary in Wildlight as well. They are uncertain if an additional Sanctuary will be needed in Yulee, and want to let the demographic growth dictate that decision. Since it would take almost 8 plus years for the current St. Francis community to raise the required 50% down payment for a Sanctuary (assuming that we could continue to duplicate our current Capital Campaign results), it seems prudent to hold off on the decision to locate a Sanctuary on our current property and let the population growth over the next few years guide us here.

With the Sanctuary removed from consideration, the decision about where to locate a permanent Rectory is also in flux. Therefore, the Diocese wants St. Francis to continue to rent appropriate housing for our Pastor, and to remove this from consideration as well.

The Diocesan position is to not construct any additional permanent structures on our current site but to wait for the population development and growth to help steer future permanent structures on our site. To that end, should additional Administration and/or PRE space needs develop, we will rent portable buildings to meet our needs.

With that information in hand, the meeting attendees reached a consensus around the following 3 top priority needs for future facility expenditures:

1. Construct the paved parking and drainage on the east side of our building (behind the altar/stained glass windows) that was deferred from the original project. This will minimize water intrusion into the building during heavy rains, and provide a solid surface upon which attendees can park and walk.
2. Construct (after raising funds) a covered outdoor pavilion to facilitate Social Gathering events. The Diocese is okay with a simple structural addition like this.
3. Install a “millings” roadbed around the east and north sides of the building to provide a more automobile-friendly surface upon which to drive. Some of these projects will require additional funding, and we will apprise you of those needs as both the scope and estimated costs are developed.

Fr. Rafal