St. Francis of Assisi Parish is in the middle of some major construction projects.
The parish is fundraising through their Rebuild My Church initiative for multiple projects across their churches on Marshall, Grand, and Waldo.
Seehafernews.com has been reporting on the demolition of the former St. Andrew’s School on Grand Avenue to which Lead Pastor Father Doug LeCaptain said needed to be done because of the condition it was in.
But that’s where their new administrative office will be going once funds are raised.
“There will be a gathering space, offices, and meeting space,” LeCaptain explained. “
And then the connection to the north side of town, to the Waldo site, that’s where we’re going to do more of our discipleship, more of our faith formation work.”
With the new building approved by the Manitowoc Plan Commission, the parish will eventually sell their central office on 8th Street.
LeCaptain says the central office building was purchased at the time of a parish merger 20 years ago, but it was needed at that time.
Now they want to be connected to at least one of their worship sites.
The gathering space will serve as our office lobby area, that will actually double over,” he stated.
“So, weekdays we will have good function and use of the space as well as weekends and other times around masses.”
Bids have been put out to construct their new office and add extra parking.
At their Waldo Blvd site, there has been renovations of the Emmaus House and St. Joseph Rectory which have been turned into space for meetings and faith formations, specifically for the Hispanic population in Manitowoc.
LeCaptain tells Seehafernews.com, “We keep getting new people that speak Spanish coming into the area. So, we have to do some work in Spanish as well as faith formation in English as well.”
Currently they are looking to get a new digital sign and a new boiler for the church which was itself attached to a school.
There’s a boiler in the school, but not the church. The two buildings are connected through a tunnel.
The church on Marshall Street is getting some work inside to maintain the ceiling.
LeCaptain says they are getting ever closer to reaching their goal to build their new central office, only need about $318,000 out of $2.5 million.
People are generous, and working on it,” he described.
“And once we get enough to be able to break ground and go as soon as we can. And I think people will step up when they see that, yep, we’re moving this next step forward.”
St. Francis of Assisi Parish will have to wait for the state and Diocese of Green Bay to approve the office site, even with the approval of the city’s plan commission.
More information can be found online at sfamanitowoc.org/rebuild-my-church.
