UNDER GOD’S

A Campaign for St. Luke the Evangelist

fr. rob’shomily from

kickoff weekend

It all goes back to Saint Luke the Evangelist. In the Gospel of Saint Luke, Jesus says, “I must be in my Father’s House.” Ever since then, Christian people have wanted to build houses for the Lord, churches where they could worship their Savior.

Let us dream a big dream for God.

All throughout history, believers have sacrificed to build churches. Sometimes even during very tough times, much tougher times than most of us have experienced. They made a commitment and put God first and gave everything they had to get God’s house built.

Now it is our turn. This is life in God’s kingdom asking if we are ready to step up to the plate. We need a new Church at our parish. God needs a new house here. The task lies before us. I will never tell you that this is an easy task. In fact, it is a great challenge. It is not easy for a small parish to build a brand new church. I know that and you know that. But it is definitely doable. If we pray. If we catch the enthusiasm. If we sacrifice. If we dream a big dream for God.

Evil is very active in the world, especially where faith is strong. Satan attacked the kingdom of God right here where we worship Almighty God, the One from whom the devil turned away. What is our response? It has been, it is, and it forever must be a response of faith. We pray for the soul of the young man who died on our property. We pray for his family. And we turn to God in prayer also for ourselves, that the Lord will strengthen us through this time of testing. By God’s grace, we will not let evil win. We know that in Christ Jesus, we have the victory over evil. With faith in Him, all things are possible.

In this Easter season especially, we celebrate Christ Jesus and his defeat over sin, evil and death. We who place our faith in Christ share in his triumph. It is our faith in Jesus that gives us our heavenly victory in eternal life. And it is faith in Jesus that enables us to accomplish great things in life.

In a recent second reading at Mass, we heard “Whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. And the victory that conquers the world is our faith. Who indeed is the victor over the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” Therefore, it is in faith that we begin our effort to build a new church at Saint Luke. It is our faith that gives us confidence that our big dream for God is possible. It is a great challenge, but our faith is greater.

Of course, having faith doesn’t mean all we have to do is sit back and relax while God does everything. We would never build a new church that way. Faith without actions is a dead faith. Just like actions without faith are dead actions.

Catholics have always believed that faith must be put into action. It begins with a dream. Being enthusiastic about dreaming a big dream for God right here at Saint Luke. Then - How, with God’s help, do we make this dream a reality?

With a project of this size, it is necessary to do a capital campaign. For the past two months St. Luke’s leadership has been gearing up for the kickoff weekend of the campaign. A number of volunteers have given countless hours to get us to this point. We want to ensure that we are celebrating our past while working to secure the future for St. Luke’s Parish. Because of the volunteers’ hard work, I am excited to announce that the weekend of April 11th marked the official public “kickoff” for our Under God’s Construction Capital Campaign. We are calling our effort the Under God’s Construction Capital Campaign because God is in charge, God is the priority, God has a plan, and everything we do is for the glory of God.

It would be easy for all of us to say, “Yes, I want to support the campaign” and then give what I am comfortable giving. Unfortunately, the numbers just don’t add up that way. Churches are expensive. There is no getting around that. We spent months in dialogue with the architect and others finding ways to reduce the cost. We value engineered the whole project. We now have a beautiful church that is affordable. Affordable, but still expensive. There is simply no way of avoiding that. Affordable, but requiring sacrificial gifts to accomplish the dream. Sacrificial gifts are usually not the first amount we think we will give. Sacrificial gifts are the result of prayer, and stretching, and more prayer to strengthen us as we go beyond our comfort zone and put God first.

Our goal for this campaign is to secure at least $2.2 million. We have received and delegated $1.3 million in insurance proceeds, $700,000 from parish funds, and we will acquire about $400,000 new long term debt from the diocese. Based on your feedback, our Finance Council is ensuring that we do not go into millions of dollars of debt, which would be a heavy burden on the parish. So that means to fund our new church we need your generous pledges in the campaign. To be more precise, to build our new church, we need to raise at least two point two million and seventeen dollars and 85 cents. I will tell you what – If you take care of the $2.2 million, I will take care of the 17 dollars and 85 cents.

Seriously, though, when we did the study, I was asked, like many of you were, to indicate how much I expected to give to the campaign. Then, just recently, I was asked to make the first gift to the campaign. After prayer, I was able to give much more than I had originally put down. For me, I decided to give up one trip and change another trip to be closer to home. It’s a sacrifice for the Lord, for his Church, and for His house. And just this week, after more praying, I have decided to make another pledge in the name of my parents, as a tribute to them.

(over)

Let us dream a big dream for God.

I remember a conversation I had with one of our parishioners, Ruth, shortly after the fire. At that time, I didn’t know the full extent of the damage or what the future would hold for Saint Luke. I just knew it was time to pray and time to get to work. Ruth told me about the effort to build the social hall and classrooms that Saint Luke Parish did a number of years ago. She said it was a lot of money and it was hard. But everyone pulled together and made it happen. And now look what we have, these nice facilities that we get so much use out of. She acknowledged that it wouldn’t be easy but encouraged me to lead us forward and build a new church.

I remember a very spiritual couple in our parish, Jorge and Connie, encouraging me to build a new church. They assured me that God had given me the gifts to be able to lead this effort, and that if I strove to please God He would take care of everything. I have received so much encouragement from so many of you, and it has made all the difference.

Now we have a greater challenge ahead of us than all the wonderful things that have already been accomplished for God here at Saint Luke. A church is greater in cost. And a church is greater because this will be the place we will worship our God for many years to come. Our new church will be a profound statement in a world that often says the Church is irrelevant, the Church doesn’t matter anymore, the Church is fading, the people of this generation don’t care about the Church like people of the past did. Our new church will be tangible and beautiful evidence that the Church is the living body of Christ in the world and the center of our lives.

This is our dreaming a big dream for God.I am thrilled to announce that we are already well on our way to meeting our goal. Our general and honorary chairs, cabinet, and campaign committees started us off with their gifts and pledges. Now parishioners are joining in making their gifts and pledges. To track our progress in reaching our goal, view the thermometer in the gathering space which will be updated weekly or visit our web site at www.stlukesraleigh.org.

Your fellow parishioners were able to give this much because they put God first, they were all-in on helping Saint Luke build a new church, and because they sacrificed. I asked one family to give $60,000 over three years. They said they had been thinking of giving twenty thousand. But when they got my request they prayed and they talked it over, and they decided to pledge the whole $60,000. Another family lives very modestly and on a definite budget. Yet they pledged $25,000 over three years. Another family was asked to pledge $45,000. They wanted to do it, but it just wasn’t possible. However, they put God first, stretched themselves, and were able to pledge $30,000, which was great. Another family, after prayer and deciding to make some sacrifices, gave a sacrificial gift of $5,000, which was wonderful. These are just four examples of the many, many commitments that have already been made.

Of course, everyone’s circumstances are different, but so far everyone is stretching to the very best of their ability. We have much to celebrate and be thankful for. Just imagine what we could do with the sacrificial help of the whole parish.

Recently, you have received a large envelope from Saint Luke Parish in the mail. In the envelope was an appeal letter from myself to you, and detailed information about the new church, its funding sources and the goals of the campaign. I hope you’ve had the chance to read it carefully.

Many of you are now receiving phone calls from a member of our volunteer campaign team. They will be calling to set an appointment to meet with you about the project and to ask you to make a pledge. This is a great way to see a friend from the parish or to make a new friend, to learn more about the project and to ask any questions you may have. You can meet in your home or at the church, whatever is most convenient for you. Please be receptive to their call.

I am asking for your help. As your shepherd, I am asking you to join me in dreaming a big dream for God. Together, we can make the dream a reality. It will take sacrifice for the numbers to add up so we can afford our new church, so I know I am asking a lot. I do believe when we look back on our lives and think of the things we have done that were really significant and that made a difference in the world, we will think of being a disciple of Jesus as a practicing Catholic, we will think of our families, and we will think: When my church was attacked and burned, I rose to the challenge and made a gift that was really big and difficult for me to make, but I did it for God and for His church.

So it comes down to this would you please consider the specific gift we will be asking you in the appeal letter you will receive to help build a new church at Saint Luke? Many of you will be surprised by the request amounts. They are larger than some would guess because churches are expensive. It is critical that you prayerfully consider what St. Luke’s means to you. And know that your gift will not only help us now but will be a precious gift to future Catholics at Saint Luke in generations to come. This isn’t just something we do for ourselves. It is for God. And it is for present and future fellow parishioners.

So after you see the amount, breathe. And then pray. And then pray some more. Perhaps you want to give more than what we are asking you for. Ok, I guess, we will allow that. Perhaps you want to do one of our naming opportunities to express the faith of your family or in memorial of a loved one. Whatever you can give, please give joyfully. It will be received joyfully. I am encouraging you to dig deep and give all you possibly can because God deserves our very best.

Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us. Saint Joseph, pray for us. Saint Luke the Evangelist, pray for us. Together we pray for the dream, for the success of the Under God’s Construction Campaign, and for a new church at Saint Luke.

Please join me and your fellow parishioners and say a Hail Mary...and let us

dream a big dream for God.