Our children, our teens, our families and the Lord's poor.
Before the flood waters began to recede in September of 2009, Deacon Bill and I were working with the Archdiocese, our insurers, Gwinnett County and Rogers Construction Company, looking for the way we would "repair the damages done". After many months of meetings and inquiry, we now have a way to move forward, in repairing the damages done to our plant by the great floods of 2009.
Our Pre-school: Gwinnett County will not allow us to use the basement/lower level of the Neumann Center in any re-building effort. Without the use of the basement, the Neumann Center is too small for our Pre-school; and an enlargement of the "footprint" of that house large enough for the important work of our Pre-school would be prohibitively expensive. This is due to the county's requirements of building in a flood plain.
After considering various options (an offsite Pre-school, too expensive; the Preschool "living" in the lower level of the new structure, too restrictive for planned ministry space), the decision has been made to re-designate the current Nursery and Lind Hall, allowing these spaces to become SJN's Pre-school. The combined space of the current Nursery and Lind Hall will offer our Pre-school staff the protected space they need in caring for our youngest parishioners.
The Lind Teen Center: For years now, it has been known that after the new worship space and lower level meetings rooms were completed (the 3rd of June), Lind Hall would become a teen center. With the need to use Lind Hall for our Pre-school ministry, this plan had to be changed. The new plan is this: once our choir and music groups move to the new choir-music group rehearsal room in the lower level of the new structure, the current choir-music group rehearsal area will be given to the teen ministry of SJN. Our Coordinator of Life Teen ministry, Mrs. Linda Koerner, will have her office in this space; and this new Lind Teen Center will become a place for our teens to call their own, throughout the week. On Sunday evening, after the 5:00 pm liturgy, the teens and the core leaders of our teen ministry will use the large cluster of rooms in the center of the lower level of the new structure. This may change, once we have raised the dollars we need and have completed the work of Phase Two of our BLF project, by creating a Parish Hall (from the current worship space). Please know that Linda Koerner and the Linds are supportive of this plan.
With this change of plans (Lind Hall becoming the Pre-school and the current music rehearsal area becoming a permanent Lind Teen Center), the parish will lose the full kitchen in Lind Hall. This situation will last for the "transition period", until we have completed the Parish Hall Project, and have a full kitchen in the new Parish Hall. We hope to use some of the appliances in the Lind Hall kitchen for the full kitchen to be a part of the new Parish Hall.
The Neumann Center: But what about the little house next to the softball field? What about the Neumann Center, hit so hard by the flood waters of 2009? To care for our children and our teens and our families and the Lord's poor, this is our plan: we will re-build the house as it was, but without the use of the basement (a county mandate). We will re-build the space simply, economically. Once rebuilt, the Neumann Center will become a place where our scouts can meet; it will be a place where our softball ministry can use for bathrooms; and, it will become a place where Catholic Charities will offer various services for our families and for the Lord's poor (counseling, assistance with immigration concerns, other human services issues). Catholic Charities will become a partner with SJN and will sponsor many programs for families and individuals. The re-built Neumann Center will allow us to follow the Lord, in caring for our children, our teens, our families and the Lord's poor. We do all we do at SJN for the greater glory of God (AMDG), as branches of the Vine!
Msgr. David Talley
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