| PEACE
Building to hold open house
All members of St. Mary’s, St. Anthony’s, and Assumption Catholic Churches are invited (and encouraged!) to attend any of the three open house events being held at the Prairie Middle School PEACE Building this weekend. After the PFFP Improvement Surveys were distributed to all registered parish families last week, several individuals expressed an interest in being able to “take a look” at the facility currently being used by the “released time” program before completing their surveys. We encourage this and hope to see many families in attendance for these events. The first open house will be held from 6:00-7:00 p.m. on Friday, October 8th. The second open house will take place Saturday morning from 10:00-11:00 a.m. Lastly, so that those who attend Mass on Saturday evening have the option to “multitask” and perhaps visit the building before or on their way home from church, the third and final open house will be held from 6:30-8:30 p.m. on Saturday night. At each open house, there will be PFFP Research Committee members available to give tours and answer questions. Questions answered about PEACE Building Conversations about the “released time” program continue this week among Tri-Parish Catholic parishioners, prompted by the PFFP Improvement Surveys that were sent out last week. It has been very encouraging to hear some of the positive feedback generated by these surveys. Perhaps equally as important has been the critical insight into the program and its future. As we await the countdown until this Sunday (the deadline to turn in the surveys to the parish office), the PFFP Research Committee continues to welcome questions about this important matter. There have been a few more great questions generated this past week by parishioners that we felt should be addressed in this week’s Chronicle. The survey mentions moving an already-existing building to the current site. Which building is it talking about? If the parishioners vote to move a building to the current site, the committee would investigate any available building that could feasibly/economically be moved. Right now, the building that is “front and center” (simply because it will be for sale once the elementary school has closed) is the current Kindergarten/Center for Discovery (the old Keuterville school) building across from the church. Inherent in choosing this option would be the fact that the building would have to be purchased, appropriately “readied” for transport to the middle school, moved across town, and then set up on a new foundation at the current PEACE Building location. Really, how “bad” is the PEACE Building right now? This is a great question! After all, it is hard to make a decision to improve something if you don’t know what it looks like, inside and out! For this reason, everyone in the parish is invited to attend any of the three open houses being hosted this weekend (see article in this week’s Chronicle). The open houses will give each parishioner the opportunity to see, walk through, and “experience” the current size and condition of the PEACE Building at the middle school “as is.” There will also be committee members at each of the open houses, and any additional questions you might have can be answered at that time. Would the new/remodeled facility only serve the youth in our parish? As a research committee, it has been exciting to learn that people of all ages have expressed an interest in having an “educational center” for the entire parish. Conceivably, when the elementary/middle school students are not occupying the classrooms in the new/remodeled facility, it would be possible (and wonderful!) to fill those same rooms with adults attending their own faith formation classes. If the consensus of our parish family is to make this facility available for all parishioners, then that is the direction the committee will ultimately pursue. All parishioners are again asked to return their surveys no later than this Sunday (October 10th). Surveys can be mailed/delivered to the parish office or dropped in the collection basket at any of the upcoming weekend Masses. The surveys can also be brought to any of the open houses this weekend. The pastoral council will meet on Wednesday, October 13th, and the PFFP Research Committee plans on presenting the data collected from the surveys at that time. 
A rear view of current PEACE building located near Prairie Middle School. |
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