Friends,

It is with a heavy heart, but one filled with ineffable gratitude, that I inform you that we have shut down our building project. Despite heroic time and effort by countless parishioners and many professionals who embraced our vision and pushed forward in the face of an unprecedented inflationary building environment, we have been unable to find a financially responsible pathway that can complete the project as designed. To attempt to do so would likely subject the parish to crippling debt and financial obligations that would jeopardize other ministries here at St. Andrew’s. It’s simply not worth the risk. 

As previously communicated, in the past few months we’ve watched the projected cost of our project inflate nearly double despite no change in scope on our part. We added nothing to the project to increase the cost. On the contrary, we continuously looked for ways to reduce costs without compromising on our shared vision of a generational Church for the Ages. 

As you may recall, the original total estimate of the project was $26 million. This figure included a $22 million church with a large parish hall, commercial kitchen, classrooms, with a link capturing dedicated youth space, bridal room and gift shop. It also included $4 million worth of estimated “soft costs” (design fees, altar, pews, statues, frescoes, baptistry font, stations of the cross, etc.) These estimates, we would later learn, were woefully inaccurate. Over the next year, as the plans came together, we watched the prices skyrocket, questioning everything along the way. When given the final construction estimate of $42.3 million, an increase of 62%, we didn’t give up. We looked at moving the church down the hill and reconfiguring the spaces underneath as less-expensive, free-standing spaces. Between that and other ingenious ideas, it was looking like we were going to save $4-6 million and also be able to repurpose the existing church. Then we learned that the soft costs had shot up as well with more inflation anticipated as we redrew the plans. Our new numbers would have necessitated a massive bridge loan from the Diocese. After crunching the numbers on the loan payments against inflows of pledged money, and not fully trusting the cost estimates and their inevitable rise, it became clear that it was not our time to build.

As I’ve said several times during this amazing effort, what you and your fellow parishioners raised and pledged was and is unmatched in the history of the Diocese. And together we did it without using a professional fund-raising group, saving a huge amount, which would have gone toward the project. The “experts” said we would never be able to do that, either. So, when I use words like “unprecedented,” “amazing,” and “ineffable gratitude,” it’s the truth. But the inflationary gap appeared and likewise grew at an unparalleled rate and in this current higher-interest rate environment, we did not believe we could bridge the gap at this time.

Our vision for a generational church for our grandchildren will never include generational debt. 

So where do we go from here? 

We continue to attract new families and are blessed by their presence. We are also increasingly crowded and cannot add more Masses, so we need to restart our search for solutions while we unwind the current project. Our school is at capacity, so like the church, we still need to find a new solution to replace the one we now know won’t work. 

Meanwhile, I promised that if this project did not move forward, I would return any pledges to those families that wished for me to do so, and I intend to honor that promise. I’ve been informed that there are specific ways to do that that may or may not have tax consequences and am learning what those are. As soon as I do, I will let you know your options. I do anticipate soon new requests to cover maintenance on parking and other building issues that were deferred in the expectation of construction and demolition that are no longer on the immediate horizon, so please prayerfully keep that in mind. As for a timetable for the larger solutions, it’s simply too soon to know, but as always, I will keep you posted. 

Friends, it’s been a long, challenging, and exhausting road. It did not take us to our destination as hoped but merely to a rest stop. And as I noted at the very beginning of this letter, my personal fatigue and frustration are vanquished by my gratitude—ineffable gratitude to you, for your prayerful support of me and this effort, and for your unwavering commitment to an unapologetically Catholic presence in the Northland at St. Andrew the Apostle Parish.

I am honored beyond words to be your pastor.

Prayerfully in the Risen Christ, 

Father Vince Rogers