St. Anthony of Padua Parish
Stewardship and Capital Campaign

Stewardship Prayer

Lord God, You alone are the source of every good gift, of the vast array of our universe and the mystery of each human life. We praise you and we thank you for your great power and your tender, faithful love. Everything we are and everything we have is your gift, and after haing created us you have given us into the keeping of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Fill our minds with His truth and our hearts with His love, that in His Spirit we may be bonded together into a community of faith, a parish family, a caring people. In the Name and Spirit of Jesus, we commit ourselves to be good stewards of the gifts entrusted to us, to share our time, our talent, our material gifts as an outward sign of the Treasure we hold in Jesus. Amen.

Celebrating the Past and Responding to the Future

We would like to extend our deepest gratitude for your generous gifts to our parish. Through our parish web site and bulletin, we will provide updates and information related to our current Community Center building project. For additional information, please contact our Capital Campaign Coordinator, Cathi Keener at 439-0124 ext. 173.

Community Center Updates:

9/24/06 - We are now on our way to building our new Community Center thanks to all of your generous contributions. Your prayers and faithful dedication to this project is greatly appreciated and absolutely
none of this could have been accomplished without each and every one of you! Due to delays with the neighbors and their attorney, the cost for the construction of our Community Center has increased.
The following statement was a requirement written into the final agreement proposed by the opposing neighbors.

“Joint Press Release - The Parties shall make a press release regarding the join resolution of this matter. The press release will address the resulting improved project appearance and area traffic circulation as well as the mutual benefit to all parties. The press release will be placed in the St. Anthony’s Church Bulletin and will provide as follows:”

“St. Anthony’s of Padua, the Diocese of Fresno and the Maroa Browning Neighborhood Association (MBNA) are pleased to announce that the lawsuit filed by the MBNA over the construction of the new event center has been resolved. As part of the settlement, traffic circulation for the site and landscaping have been improved for the betterment of our church, school and neighborhood.”

Agreements for sub-contracting are being secured at this time and weekly meetings are occurring to meet all the necessary deadlines and timelines. We will continue to provide information as it becomes
available. Please continue to pray for the safety and guidance of everyone involved with the construction of our much awaited, Community Center.

9/03/06 - Dear Parishioners, Last Sunday, August 27th, we dedicated and blessed the construction site for the new Parish Community Center. As we looked among those in attendance, it struck all of us how much history both in the land, the buildings and especially the precious people, both living and deceased, have allowed us to get to this tremendous point. We were able to use a shovel for this groundbreaking that was used by Msgr. Patrick Flood on Easter Sunday, 1966 as he broke ground with his Finance Council and parishioners to build our church which was completed in 1968. And now we will journey together to build a facility to use for so many future events and community parish activities. The auxiliary classrooms/meeting rooms and gym will serve to help us fulfill our goals to educate, evangelize and support our children and all generations. I ask for your continued prayers and I know that from your clergy and staff of the parish and school, how grateful we are for your support and encouragement. I am grateful to all the chairs committees, and staff who have worked so hard behind the scenes to help us with the entire process. I pledge to keep you informed of the progress both in the building phase and the financial phase. If any of you have any inquiries concerning the building, please place those concerns in writing to our building committee, or e-mail to ckeener@stanthonyfresno.org and your inquiries will be sent to the proper committee member for reply. I ask for your patience, especially in the parking lot, and ask for extra care as you arrive and depart. Msgr. John Coelho-Harguindeguy, Pastor

Community Center Blessing Ceremony - Click here to view photos from the Groundbreaking ceremony.

On Sunday, August 27, 2006, the ground on which our new Community Center will be built, was blessed by our Pastor, Msgr. John, with Fr. Blessing and Deacon Ed. Tom Neumeier, Vice Principal of St. Anthony’s School was our Master of Ceremonies for the celebration. After the prayer and blessing , Monsignor John, Fr. Loren Blessing, Deacon Ed, Zetta Hadden (Facilities Committee), John Ferdinandi (Building Committee), Shawn Carey (St. Anthony’s School Principal) and Max Shuh (former student body president - St. Anthony's school), picked up their shovels waving blue and yellow ribbons, turning over the dirt in celebration! Also present representing Engineering and Construction were: Mike Cantelmi, Rod Andreason and Frank Cornell. Regrets were received by John Bonadelle (Building Committee), Doug DuRivage (Diocese Property Department) and Msgr. Flood (former Pastor of St. Anthony’s). After the ceremony, the St. Anthony’s PTO hosted by Tamara Chapman and Amber Donny provided everyone with bottled water, beautiful valley grown grapes and pretzels. We would like to thank all our family and friends that have made this dream a reality by sharing their gifts of time, talent and treasures.

7/30/06 - This past June we announced via the bulletin, that the asbestos would be removed from the old Religious Education office, (formerly the rectory), and the School Faculty lounge. Removal of asbestos from older buildings is mandatory prior to demolition. We are very happy to announce that demolition of the old religious education office was completed last week and the faculty lounge will be next. This is another huge step toward the construction of our much needed new community center. And although we can’t wait to start making new memories in our new building, there are many students, teachers, staff and parishioners that have memories from the old buildings. Let us pray that all memories, both old and new, are carried in our hearts forever. Let us also continue to pray for everyone involved in the construction of our new community center. May God grant us serenity to accept the things we cannot change, Courage to change the things we can, and Wisdom to know the difference.

5/21/06 - We thought it might be a good time to provide everyone with a brief reminder of why we are building our new Community Center & what it will offer our Parish.

WHY? The decision to build a new community center was based on the current and future needs of our school and parish. St. Anthony’s parish has been blessed with a growing number of Catholics and we need more room to accommodate the growing needs of our many ministries and groups. This center will allow us to have a new, clean and updated
place to meet, teach, share our faith and have fun with our families and friends.
WHAT?
• A brand new gymnasium
• Bleacher seating
• Additional classrooms for our ministries and special classes
• Flexible space based on program requirements
• Additional Restrooms
• Baby sitting room
• Concession space
• Parish Lounge
• Upgrades to our current kitchen facility and much more

Attorneys for the Diocese of Fresno along with our St. Anthony’s attorney have been working with the attorney for the Browning Maroa Neighborhood Association, to finalize issues. We have the electrical permit and will continue to pursue the additional permits necessary for the building. Please continue with your prayers for a successful and speedy resolution, so we can start to build and use our much needed Community Center!! May the Holy Spirit fill the hearts & minds of all the people involved in this project.

4/16/06 - All of the revised architectural plans have been returned to the City of Fresno for a final check. The diocese, staff and lawyers have been working very hard to provide a settlement regarding the neighborhood’s concerns on traffic & landscaping. We will inform you on further developments. Thank you for your continued spiritual and financial support.

3/5/06 - It Is our great pleasure to announce that as of 2/21/2006,
we have collected over $2 million towared the construction of our Beautiful New Community Center! This spectacular achievement has only been made possible by our Wonderful, Faithful & Ever So Generous, St. Anthony’s Family & Friends! Many, Many, Thanks to everyone who has kept their commitment in making their pledge payments, shared their time, talents and prayers for the safe, smooth and successful construction of our new building. Everyday, we continue to see the growing needs of our Faith Community with Outreach Programs, Religious Education Classes for both Children and Adults, School Functions, Youth Programs and
Opportunities and Masses to address the Cultural Diversity of our Parish.
Just think of it, a safe, warm, friendly, faithful and peaceful environment, which will enable us to meet not only the present needs of our Faith Community, but provide the space necessary for us to meet God’s plans for the future. There’s No Place Like Our Own, Parish Home.

11/6/05 - It has been more than a year now that our Building Fund Capital Campaign has been underway. Our Capital Campaign has been blessed with over 1300 people that have provided this Campaign with their Time, Talents and Treasures. We have had so many wonderful people share their time and talent by making phone calls, mailing pink envelopes, preparing statements and all of the other tasks necessary to ensure a successful campaign. For our friends sharing their treasures, whether the contributions are made on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly or one time basis, the unselfish, faithful, timely and generous support from all of these wonderful parishioners has enabled us to reach a new high of $1,749,823!! Thank you again for your time, talent, treasures and patience!!

9/21/05 - Fresno Planning Commission Meeting

8/28/05 - As mentioned in past bulletins, there are a few neighbors opposing our new Community Center which regrettably, has delayed the start of this wonderful project. The process of obtaining our permit is now at a standstill as we again await the City’s review of the opposing letters. We hope to have a decision from the City sometime in September,. However, if we continue to meet with opposition, we will, again, be unable to begin breaking ground of our new Community Center until later in the year.

7/17/05 - The status of the new building is still pending the City's approval, but we anticipate hearing from them soon so we can begin construction. Your generous gifts to the building fund continue to come in faithfully. Our new Community Center will be a place for all of us, built by all of us.

6/19/05 - Bulletin Update on Community Center:

• Design Phase Status - Rod Andreasen, AIA of Temple, Anderson and Moore - Completed
• Construction General Contractor - facility will be managed by Frank Cornell of CDI Construction
• Conditional Use Permit - We are in the process of meeting with some of the neighbors opposing the CUP, to address their concerns and clear the way for approval of the CUP and thus, the permit, to start construction. This opposition, regrettably, can cause delays of up to three months of our original start time.
• Bidding Process - Commencing upon completion of plans

5/27/05 - Letter from Tom Neumeier to surrounding neighbors providing Community Center information - click here to read this letter.

Our Faith, Our Family, Our Future

Your cooperation and generosity to the Diocesan Campaign, Our Faith, Our Family, Our Future, has made it possible to surpass our goal of $1.9 Million Dollars. This tremendous response will allow for so many important programs, endowments and improvements for our Diocese.
As of November we have received commitments of $2,518.036.00 which means that a sizeable portion will come back directly to St. Anthony’s for our parish needs. Our committee has been contacting anyone that requested additional information and to anyone that requested a call. Many parishioners wanted to pray with a committee member and to offer their verbal support and continued prayer. The power of your prayers and positive response impacted many on the committee and ensured a wonderful outcome. A special note of gratitude to the Program Chairmen, Mr. Francis Samson and Mr. Rick Martinez, and to the recording treasurer for the program, Mr. Danny Medeiros for their weekly commitment of their treasured time since the month of June. Thank you to all the members who I enjoyed working with and getting to know over the last several weeks. Such marvelous enthusiasm and dedication from the entire group! Thanks to their families who spent many evenings without them home to enjoy family time as they worked for our parish. I am truly humbled by your outpouring of support and generosity and prayers.

Yours in Christ,
Msgr John

• Click here for additional information in English
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