St. Ann pledges hit goal

Groundbreaking ceremony planned for later this year.

By: Lea Kahn
   The Church of St. Ann has reached its fund-raising goal of $2.5 million, paving the way for a groundbreaking ceremony for its planned Faith Development Center later this year.
   The fund-raising campaign for the Church of St. Ann, which is located on Lawrence Road in the Eldridge Park neighborhood, kicked off in October 2001, said the Rev. Vincent Gartland. No date has been set for the groundbreaking ceremony.
   More than 1,200 individual parishioners offered pledges toward the fund-raising goal, the Rev. Gartland said. The pledges are payable over a three-year period. The church has collected nearly $1.6 million of the pledges thus far.
   The parish of the Church of St. Ann is made up of 2,500 families, including 8,000 individuals, the Rev. Gartland said. About 2,100 people attend worship services on weekends, he said.
   "I am really gratified at the response," he said. "We are living in challenging economic times. The response has been strong and enthusiastic. It is a real tribute to the generosity of the parish."
   The 45,020-square-foot Faith Development Center is expected to cost about $6 million. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton will arrange for a loan to pay for the difference between the amount of money raised and the cost of the construction.
   The Church of St. Ann is building the Faith Development Center because it has run out of space for its groups and committees to meet, the Rev. Gartland said.
   Currently, some groups meet in the former convent on Rossa Avenue and others meet in St. Ann’s School, in the sanctuary and in the former rectory.
   The new building would be attached to the existing sanctuary on the Eldridge Avenue side of the building. It would contain a kitchen, a media center, a cloister, a music room and an art gallery. The plan also includes a library and a space for quite prayer. Conference rooms and offices also would be included.
   Besides providing meeting rooms for the committees, the new building’s art and music rooms and the media center would be used by students at St. Ann’s School.
   The addition also would provide classrooms for the 550 students who take part in religious education and after-school activities on weekdays, and meeting space for youth groups, the Rev. Gartland said. The goal is to consolidate all of the parish’s activities in the new building, he said.
   Also, the building would be open to community groups when there is space available. Parish programs would take priority in scheduling of the space, of course, but the church has opened its facilities to nonparish groups, the Rev. Gartland said.
   The new building could foster more interaction between young and old, he said. A program for high school students could be going on at the same time as a program for senior citizens, for example.
   "My goal is to have a family drop off the children for a program and then the parents can come back to pick them up," he said. "The parents might sit and read a book or look at artwork. We want to find a way to keep the family together, even though they are not doing the same thing."