Jonesboro Parish Begins Three-Phase Building Project

YONE DALY, Special Contributor

Published: November 4, 2004

JONESBORO—For the past year, parishioners of St. Philip Benizi Church have taken their capital campaign slogan to heart by pledging their time, talent and treasure to help build the kingdom of God and provide for the spiritual needs of future generations.

On Oct. 23, the parish broke ground for the first phase of a three-phase building project. The building project’s master plan is designed to increase the parish’s present facilities in order to provide additional classroom space for its religious education, adult faith formation and pre-school programs and to renovate existing buildings for administrative, social and all-purpose use.

The ground-breaking ceremony marked the beginning of phase one of the building project—a new religious education building. While surrounded by representatives of the archdiocese, the capital campaign building committee, the parish pastoral council, finance council, staff and other parishioners, St. Philip Benizi pastor Father Gregory Hartmayer, OFM Conv., broke ground where a new parking lot will be constructed. The new parking lot, for which construction should begin by mid-November, is necessarily the first aspect of construction in order to replace some of the existing parking spaces that will be lost when the new religious education building is completed.

The campaign’s one-year anniversary will be celebrated on the weekend of Dec. 3-4 and will be commemorated by a social event and the opportunity for new parishioners to join in the endeavor for their parish and the archdiocese as well.