Blessed Sacrament celebrates successful capital campaign

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
September 29, 2005

About 250 parishioners of Blessed Sacrament Church in Sioux City gathered Sept. 25 to celebrate the successful completion of the capital campaign titled Pride in Our Past...Commitment to Our Future.

According to Father Merlin Schrad, pastor, a feasibility study through a Chicago company had determined the parish could raise $2.5 million in a campaign.

"We hired them for a $2.5 million campaign with a challenge goal of $3 million, and today we are celebrating the fact that although we are not complete, we did reach $3.3 million this week," he explained. The pastor noted that they would continue to seek pledges from new parishioners and those they have not been able to connect with.

"I have a sense of pride with how people came through with contributions in all amounts," said Father Schrad. "We didn't care about the amount as much of the importance that people felt a part of our parish."

The honorary chairs for the campaign were Larry and Sharon Walsh.

He said there was much to celebrate. Walsh expressed gratitude to the earlier parishioners that built the church 50 years ago. He also extended appreciation for Father Schrad, who had called together a variety of people - parish council, finance committee, construction people - to examine the options with the tower and determine the best course of action.

"This is really a significant day of celebration," said Walsh. "We are celebrating together because our parish responded to the 94 volunteers that worked tirelessly to make this campaign a success. Ninety-four were involved with soliciting their neighbors and their friends, asking them to help put this church back into its former glory and they responded with pledges that were just overwhelming. We have great reasons to be enthusiastic about the hard work of everyone on this team and the generous response of our parishioners."

Money raised through the campaign will help fund several projects. The biggest and most visible project was the recent $1.5 million tower restoration. Funds from the campaign will also go to eliminate parish debt of about $600,000 as well as future plans for a new heating/cooling system for the church and new lighting.

So far $800,000 has been received and the rest of the money will come to the parish over the five-year pledge period.

Mike McGowan, chair of the finance committee, described the campaign as quite successful.

"It is a great example of what we can do when we all work together," he said. "We are lucky to be at a parish that truly has generous parishioners."

He stressed the fact that people stepped up and gave to the best of their ability.

"We worked very hard at being inclusionary - including all of the demographic groups of the parish in looking for help and feedback. We did a feasibility study before the campaign kicked off to get feedback from people - what they were thinking about the campaign, what they were thinking about the things we're trying to raise for and what they were thinking needed attention in the parish."

Sandy Cannon, a member of the capital campaign committee, was pleased with the response of the people.

"I think that everyone who worked on this campaign had a very positive experience because of the response of the parishioners. They all were very gracious when we called upon them and were as generous as they could possibly be," she said. "I think they felt a real commitment to the campaign. They knew there were problems that had to be addressed and were willing to commit their resources."

Prior to work on the tower and spire, studies were done to look at the options. The parish looked at restoring the tower and even at removing it. In the end, they discovered the cost to remove it was so great that it would be best to fix it properly and keep the architectural integrity of the building.

"I live two houses from the church and I can see the tower from my kitchen window. I would have hated to see the tower go down because it would have changed the whole appearance of the church," said Cannon. "I think the tower is a landmark feature for the city of Sioux City and needed to be maintained."

Jason Glover, chair of the parish pastoral council, attributed the success of the campaign to the

"wonderful sense of community that we have at Blessed Sacrament. The Blessed Sacrament family really came together in a special way to make this campaign a success."

He pointed out that the parishioners believe strongly in the parish and the community that it provides each person.

"Everyone was willing to step forward and do what was necessary to save both the steeple and make some significant investments in the parish for the future generations," said Glover. "Due credit needs to go to Father Merlin - his leadership in making this happen was magnificent."

A recognition board will be placed in the living room area of the parish center - located right under the tower, noted Father Schrad. The board will contain the names of all the contributors of the campaign.

"Everyone seemed to rally around this cause. It seems as though there is a whole new spirit here," he said.