Holy Trinity Campus (Sherman, CT)

15 Route 37 CTR   Sherman, CT  06784

Weekend Mass Schedule
Saturday Vigil: 4:00 PM
Sunday: 10:00 AM

Confession
Saturday: 3:15-3:45 PM

St. Edward the Confessor Church
21 Brush Hill Road
New Fairfield, CT  06812
 

Hello Everyone,

            I thank you for your patience regarding updates on our new chapel construction project. After many months of meetings, discussions, planning, edits, collaborations, estimates, and bids we are finally at a point where I can speak with confidence on the future of our campus.

In the last week we had the opportunity to meet with Bishop Caggiano to share and discuss our progress. He received the news and the information with excitement. I am happy to say that at the end of our presentation he gave it all his blessing and granted his full permission to move forward with our project. My mother frequently as a child would assure me that ‘good things come to those who wait,’ and her wisdom has proven true with this most recent meeting.

Now, we are happy to share with you the same information and plan going forward. So, without further ado, here we go.

Since July we have had many meetings with Westchester Modular and we have solidified the overall design of our new chapel space, the foundational elements of its interior, and garnered the hard numbers on the expense of the project. The chapel – the early renderings of which you can find in the later pages of this letter – will be in a style that speaks to the existing architecture of our town and its historic buildings. It will be located to the left of the existing rectory. The goal was to make something that was authentically Sherman while also being distinctly Holy Trinity as we come up Routes 39 & 37 and enter the historic district of our town. The theme of the building also took inspiration from our existing rectory with respect to its colors and materials. The long and short of it is that our new worship space will be a quiet and bright country chapel that will greet families and individuals for many generations to come. With the insight and help of our dedicated team I believe that this new building will be a great contribution to our town and our community.

Now, here is why it has taken so long to get to this point.

As you are very aware, before the pandemic which threw the world into pandemonium and changed our lives with shutdowns and distancing, Fr. Gemza had begun efforts to restore our existing site through the surveys and studies by J.G. Waite Associates in the hopes of remediating our invasive black mold issue as part of our We Stand With Christ Campaign. With the hardships brought about by the pandemic these plans had to be put on hold until the world began to emerge from the seclusion that it had been forced into by the virus. It was not long after this that Fr. Gemza was transferred. Fr. Nick Cirillo took the helm as administrator to continue the investigation into the situation of our church and multipurpose space. The nature of said situation unfortunately resulted in our transfer into our multipurpose space and the announcement that our church was financially beyond remedy, as the mold was so effusive that even with millions invested in the space there was no guarantee of it never returning. It was at this point that I shared the plan to demolish the existing church and to build a new chapel while working to salvage our multipurpose space. This is where things slowed down.

Over the course of several months, we had 5 different general contractors investigate and offer possibilities for our multipurpose space. Two GC’s after completing their investigation declined to make an offer as they believed the space was too far gone. Despite spending nearly $40,000 to clean the hall and having the dehumidifiers running at full power 24/7 since we moved into the multipurpose space, it had only moderately slowed the progress of the invasive nature of the mold. In the course of the investigation, it was revealed as well that because the two buildings were connected that they shared the same ‘bio-baggage’ and that the mold had already permeated the interior foundations of the multipurpose room. The remaining three GC’s eventually made offers that reached upwards of $1.8 million to attempt a remediation and restructuring but could not guarantee that the mold situation would be finally settled as it would call for an even greater restructuring of the space, which would inevitably price us out completely without any prospect of being able to build our chapel.

Essentially, we would spend either ¾ of the endowment or potentially 2.5x the endowment in this case. It was during this time that alternative plans were being investigated, but it was not until the final facts had come through that the necessary direction ultimately revealed itself. Despite the efforts to remediate and despite many attempts to find a financially amiable method of salvage and restoration, the multipurpose room would either deny us a worship space or it would consume the endowment and then some, leaving us with little much to offer and a liability to be concerned about for the future. The plan then had to develop into not only a new chapel, but a new multipurpose space as well.

After several consultations, the most fiscally responsible and agreeable solution was to raise the new chapel several feet and construct a multipurpose hall beneath the worship space and outfit it with the necessary commercial appliances and amenities to ensure that we had a location not only where we could gather for the most important reality of the sacraments, but also to ensure that we would have a space in which we could gather as a family for events and work towards rebuilding the essential aspects of community and fellowship. This also would provide a greater opportunity for any visiting parish or diocesan sponsored events to be able to happen in our space for retreats, gatherings, days of prayer, and receptions. The plan then is for the existing church and multipurpose spaces to be torn down and converted into usable land which will provide foundations for our landscape and parking renovations as well. The combined expense of the new chapel and the new hall came in at less than what even the GC’s had offered for the existing multipurpose space alone, with the added bonus and guarantee of no mold in our future ever again.

Several years ago, I personally went through the loss of my parish’s Catholic Grammar school, from which I had graduated and where my mother, also a graduate, was still working at the time as the chief administrative assistant. I lived only a block away from it. I also experienced the closure of my old seminary which had fostered my vocation in its early stages. This was the very place that when I visited it for the first time that I first consciously responded in faith to God’s plan for my life. I understand and appreciate how difficult our situation has been and how much this mold has cost us not only in terms of our worship space and then our multipurpose space, but even more so as a community as it has forced us into situations that we would not have envisioned. The facts have driven the point home again and again that the best possibility for our community was to not only rebuild ourselves but to rebuild our structures for our future. Which is why I have another additional element to share.

As you are probably aware, I nor Fr. Tim are actively living in the rectory space. While we may have an occasional guest, it has mostly been retrofitted into our faith formation classrooms in addition to the corners of the multipurpose space. By what the new project allows us in budgetary consideration, it is my desire to renovate the ground level of the rectory and open it up to our community as an additional home in which we may share fellowship, food and coffee, and conversation after our morning Mass. We want to welcome everyone into a familial space in which we can grow and flourish together in addition to our new chapel and new hall. In essence, I would like to open what would otherwise have been my home and make it part of our home.

In summary, here is the plan: Our existing church and multipurpose hall will have to be demolished as its remediation and reconstruction cannot be fiscally managed nor its future integrity be guaranteed. A new chapel with a lower-level multipurpose space will be constructed adjacent to the existing rectory and the rectory itself will be renovated and opened to our community’s post-Mass gathering. The landscaping that is envisioned for the campus will rework our parking situation, lighting, security, and aesthetic to provide a lovely campus that will not only enhance our community’s distinctness but will provide an authentically local town identity. All the permits are currently beginning their application processes and as soon as timetables become available, they will be communicated.

I thank you again for your patience as so many of these details and plans have been in development and coming to light. I am very excited for the prospect of what this project will offer for our community and nearby communities. Thank you very much for taking the time to read this lengthy letter and thank you for your concern and support of our community during this time. May God bless you and keep you.


Sincerely,

Rev. Robert L. Wolfe
Pastor