Over the past several years, it has become abundantly clear that there is a need to enhance the facilities of Visitation Parish. While recognizing that parishioners have managed to accomplish a great deal with limited space and outdated buildings, the Parish Pastoral Council and Administration Commission recommended in the spring of 2005 that in order to provide for future growth and development, the deficiencies in current facilities need to be formally addressed.

The Preparation Process
Realizing parishioner input is crucial in arriving at a successful plan, interviews, group sessions and a parish survey were conducted to obtain the necessary information for discerning the needs of the parish. Among the findings that surfaced through this process were:

		Meeting space and gathering areas must be enhanced to accommodate current and future programs for faith formation as well as social functions and community outreach.
		Safety and accessibility issues need to have proper attention; namely, drop-off for school children and facility accessibility for seniors and handicapped.
		Modern educational facilities are needed to support the day school, religious education, and youth ministry programs in engaging and challenging the youth of the parish in their faith development.
		Up-to-date office space is needed for parish staff to more effectively serve the needs of parishioners, allow for future growth and provide more privacy for priests living in the rectory.

The Next Step
The consensus of the parish leadership was that Visitation should move forward in developing a "Master Plan" for the campus that maximizes current facilities while proposing new construction. A Building Task Force, composed of across-section of parishioners, was formed to analyze the needs that surfaced in the preparation process and to develop a Master Plan with the help of a competent architect. Two initial plans ("A and D") were shared with the parish in September of 2006, and the feedback from parishioners enabled the Task Force and architects to develop a Master Plan that combines the best from both concepts.

This Master Plan successfully outlines a broad vision for the future. Broken into phases, the plan maximizes our resources and can be executed in a manner that respects the current worship, ministry and activity schedules with as little disruption as possible. Phase I includes replacing Madonna Hall with a new Parish Center, improving and modernizing the school building and creating an overall campus that is pedestrian safe, handicapped accessible, supports parish ministries and programs with much-needed storage space and provides convenient parking. Please see the building plans for more details.

All of these plans, of course, depend on the parish having the financial resources to make them a reality. This can only be done with the commitment and support of Visitation parishioners. Please take the time to learn more about this project and prayerfully consider how you can help our family of faith meet today's needs and those of future generations.