St Julie Billiart Church
7399 West 159th St. Tinley Park, IL 60477-1398

This page updated on 10/21/04

Sharing Christ's Gifts

Capital Improvement Project

What is the purpose of Sharing Christ’s Gifts?

The Scope of St. Julie's Capital Improvement Project 

Artist's Sketches

The Scope of St. Julie's Capital Improvement Project

Goal 1: Increase parking.

Plans call for demolishing the existing rectory and creating 96 new parking spaces to include new handicapped parking compliant with code.

Due to very large attendance at our weekend Masses, our current parking facilities are severely overcrowded. People park illegally in fire lanes or must hike a long way from behind the Devine Center.

Goal 2: Create new pastoral offices.

Plans call for extending the front of the Parish Hall into the green space currently occupied by the Mary statue for new offices. Centralization of parish services and efficient use of office space were the number one priority identified by the Long Range Planning Committee. The Mary statue will be moved to a new shrine space.

Parishioners who meet with staff are currently directed to three different buildings.

The rectory, as originally designed, included only two offices, which staff members must share. Even Father Steve shares an office with with several other ministries. The staff, coordinating five ministry boards, sixty direct ministries, and over onethousand people in those ministries need a space where they can work collaboratively and efficiently. Furthermore, as the number of priests decline, the need for offices for lay employees will increase. Goal 3: Install movable, soundproof walls in Parish Hall.

Currently, the Parish Hall can only accommodate one group at a time. Plans call for movable walls to allow for six medium-sized meeting rooms, which provide flexibility for large receptions and gatherings, or smaller rooms for meetings as needed.

People who are involved in the ministry boards and the ministries are constantly strapped for meeting space. For example, the Human Concerns Ministry Board holds its monthly meetings in homes because meeting space is not available to them. On any weeknight, there are as many as five meetings going on at once. Religious Education

uses the entire Devine Center almost every night of the week, as well as Saturday and Sunday mornings. The small meeting room in the rectory basement is not handicapped accessible. The Parish Hall has plenty of space, but it is essentially one room. Smaller rooms would also be beneficial to groups, such as SPRED, which need environments conducive to programs of faith formation.

Goal 4: Create a youth drop-in center and consolidate existing youth ministry into one space.

Plans call for remodeling the current Worship/Music office, the former sacristy, and the stage area of the Parish Hall to create a youth drop in center. The center would be supervised and open after school and in the evening.

Young people are the future of this parish. The teens involved in TNT (Teens Need Togetherness) do not have a space and are constantly shuf fled among our three existing buildings. Their equipment and materials for various projects are also spread among the three buildings. The audio video/computer/editing/copying equipment is stuffed into a small basement room of the rectory and behind the stage in the Parish Hall. Food and supplies for the Daybreak Shelter are stored in the Youth Office, Devine Center, and Parish Hall.

We have a fantastic youth ministry engaged in many projects and outreach services to those in need. Our vision is that TNT will become so inviting and welcoming that youth will want to be here and become part of our active parish community.

Goal 5: Begin initial phase of stained glass installation.

Plans call for phase one - etched glass on the doors leading from the Narthex into the church. Stained glass windows enhance the worship environment. Due to the enormous cost of this project, the installation of the stained glass windows was put on hold. With the funds from this campaign, phase one will finally begin!