Our Parish Family
The plans to build a new church for St. James began back in 1988. After many bumps in the road, the parish purchased land in 1999 and received approval to build our current church in 2004. The church cost over $17 million, including the cost of items such as pews and windows. The initial mortgage was almost $15 million in 2004. Over the years, generous St. James families have paid down $12.2 million, leaving only $2.8 million remaining.
Our parish community has been able to accomplish this thanks to the vibrant self-giving faith of those who have gone before us. In 1995, during the “Stepping out in faith” campaign, 141 families raised $249,304 and many of those families pledged a 2nd time in 2003 as part of the “Building for the Generations” campaign with 354 new families joining the effort, for a total of $2,925,729 pledged.
In 2006 with the “Moving Forward in Faith” campaign, 320 families pledged a total of $1,994,763. Not only had 228 of those families pledged in the previous campaign, almost 60 of them had pledged in all three campaigns. Even after they fulfilled their pledges the vast majority of those families continued to give. Over the years, those families have contributed over $5,000,000 to pay down our mortgage. That is almost three times the amount pledged! 49 additional families began regularly contributing in response to “God’s House Team” in 2011.
Monthly Expenses
Required to have an adjustable rate mortgage that gets reassessed every three years, in March of 2024 our current 1.95% rate (chart to the left) will increase to over 6% (chart to the right). That is $9,000 more interest a month!! 
Notice how the shift in the increase of percentage our interest rate (light green) will affect our monthly expenses. This is VERY significant. We MUST pay the mortgage, which means something else in our monthly budget will have to be cut. *Note: These charts cover just our operating expenses, not any of our social outreach, such as Webster Springs, Priest Field, Social Concerns, etc.
This is where you come in. Will you join our stalwart supporters and help in paying for the church where you worship?
On the other hand, consider how many more people we can help and things we can accomplish once we free that amount of our monthly budget. All it takes is every parishioner sacrificially committing according to the means God has given them. If you don’t because you think someone else will, it ends up being no one participating.
Thank You for being part of our parish family!
Like the widow’s mite, it is the size of the sacrifice that Jesus praises. Your sacrificial pledge, no matter the amount, is a testament to your faith and willingness to support the work of God in our parish. We are deeply grateful for those who have dedicated their time and talents to improve our parish, both those who have been a part of this parish’s ups and downs and multitude of campaigns over the years to get the church built and the more recent transplants who have joined the parish family as we pay off our debt. What a glorious day this will be!
A special Thank You to those who, by naming the church in their wills, have formed the basis for this campaign. Please pray for the repose of their souls.
Ernest Pope
Thomas J. and Louise M. Baumgardner
Francis M. And Virginia Galli (Honey) Frye
Elizabeth Hooe
Guy Chicchirichi
John Edward and Kathleen Nolan Dollymore
