October 2008

Dear Friends,

I would like to take this opportunity to express my most sincere wish that you had the wonderful occasion to celebrate Thanksgiving with your beloved family and friends and that through this occasion took a moment to pause and to reflect on the abundance of God’s blessings in one’s life. Our 7th Annual Thanksgiving Collection of Non-Perishable Food Items was a huge success and undoubtedly the greatest example of generosity that our community has ever exhibited. Our people who did the distribution of the collected items estimated that approximately $50,000.00 worth was collected that weekend.

However, at the beginning of October, I had the opportunity to speak to the parish community about the Ste-Anne’s Restoration Program and the future challenges that are before us. I would like to again take a moment to express my personal gratitude as well as that of the Fund-Raising Committee for the exceptional generosity of the community of Ste-Anne’s throughout the past year. Over the past year, {as of Thanksgiving Weekend}, 573 individuals as well as parish groups have contributed nearly $400,000.00 towards this project as well as pledging nearly another $110,000.00 over the next 2 years for a total of about half a million dollars. This is an exceptional achievement in the midst of very harsh and hard economic times of which we are presently living in, most especially in the Essex-Windsor region.

Throughout this past year, we have addressed two of the five projects, obviously the two smaller ones. The parish centre kitchen was completed this past May and was funded mostly by the Easter Collection {for which you so generously contributed}. We are presently in the midst of the stained glass window project as certain windows are removed, repaired and returned and thus other windows then follow the same process. This project is now complete in the Chapel and we are now working on the windows in the main church with the finish date of September 2009. The other three projects, the roof, the refacing of the stone on the church and lastly the Bell Tower are in that order of priority and will be addressed as the funds are collected.

I don’t believe that I need to re-express the magnitude of the project nor the very challenging price tag to address it. The great challenge for us at Ste-Anne’s will be on how to get there. First of all, it is important to say that we will not get there in a short period of time. In order to complete all of the said projects, I am predicting anywhere from seven to eight years to collect this amount of money at the present rate. Secondly, I am asking everyone to give serious consideration to contributing. Less than 20% of our registered parishioners have given or pledged to the campaign so far. Ste-Anne’s Church has been beneficial to the entire community of Tecumseh and is reaching out to all to help her achieve her goal of full restoration for future generations. I would like to see parishioners talking to each other and encouraging each other to help out in this campaign. Neither I nor my fund-raising committee can do this on our own. We really need to work collectively to make this happen.

And finally, I am asking serious consideration to pledge for a longer period of time or for those who have indicated a one-time only contribution to consider a possible second donation to the project. It is important for the parish of Ste-Anne’s to understand that there is no miracle that is going to happen. There are no government grants or diocesan funds that are available to us. There are no churches in our neighbourhood that are going to be sold where we will benefit from the proceeds. We are completely on our own in raising this money and we will take the time and the effort it takes to get to our collective goal. While it will not be in the near future, I am optimistic that we will get there together. There is no doubt in my mind.

You will notice in this package that we have once again included a pledge card and envelope assuming that you used last year’s at the launch of the campaign. Once again, I urge your serious consideration to make either a contribution or a pledge or even a little bit of both to help Ste-Anne’s draw herself closer to her goal and enable us to trigger the necessary projects to commence. Please note that all contributions will be receipted for income tax purposes and thus will also benefit you in that way. I am humbly asking you to do what you can and to do it in a way that is both life-giving for you and your parish.

I thank you once again for your attention to this matter and I pray that together we will rise to the challenges before us with hope and anticipation for a better tomorrow for you and for Ste-Anne’s Parish.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Fr. Robert G. Couture
Pastor
Ste-Anne Parish
Tecumseh, Ontario

St. Anne Restoration Hinges on Fundraising
 

10 Apr 2008...  For the last five months passing St. Anne’s church has meant witnessing the enormous steeple that now sits on the church’s front lawn. This beautiful structure is a very important landmark in the Tecumseh community. Since October, 2007 there have been fundraising efforts to get the steeple back in its proper place. An estimated $3 million dollars is needed to fix the church which includes: the stained glass windows, the church’s roof, replacing the steeple’s wooden supports with steel support...
[read more]
 

Legion wants the bells back

27 April 2008...  The Royal Canadian Legion Br. 261, Tecumseh, raised $3,000 toward the Keep the Bells Ringing in Tecumseh campaign to restore the Ste-Anne Church steeple and other necessary restorative work. The Branch’s Ladies Auxiliary actually took the initiative and held a chili cook-off on April 27, 2008... [read more]

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