“Then the people rejoiced because these had given willingly, for with a whole heart they had offered freely to the Lord” 1 Chronicles 29:9

Prayer for our Restoring God's House:

Heavenly Father,
We come before You with grateful hearts, rejoicing as Your people did in the days of David. You have blessed us with the privilege to renew and restore Your sacred space—a place where Your name is honored and Your presence is felt.

Lord, we offer our gifts willingly and joyfully, knowing that all we have comes from You. May every contribution, every effort, and every prayer be for Your glory alone. Strengthen our hands for this good work, unite our hearts in faith, and let this house shine as a beacon of Your love and grace.

We dedicate this project to You, O Lord. May it draw souls closer to You, inspire worship, and proclaim Your goodness for generations to come.

In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Restoring God's House: Renewing our Sacred Space for His Glory is a wonderful opportunity for us to improve our Church because if you have been to worship and celebrate Mass with us, you will see that some of our veneer pews are falling apart and our tile flooring is starting to separate from the concrete. Restoring God’s House will fund new tile flooring and all new hardwood pews that will last a long time and other liturgical items like a baptism font, ambo and cantor stand, presider and deacon chairs, wedding kneeler (wedding prie dieu), Holy Oil (ambry) and relics display, tabernacle, and some tables and other things that are matching in a unified theme. These improvements to our church will create a strong foundation for generations to come. Every dollar you give today will make a lasting impact for years ahead! Please prayerfully consider donating today and ask for God’s help on our Restoring God’s House! 

One thing we would like to highlight, on top of your normal Sunday giving, is that if you choose to give $25 a week for 52 weeks, your total contribution will be $1,300 toward Restoring God’s House. Or if you are feeling generous $50 per week or $2600. Or even more! You do not have to give the full amount at once — weekly giving is perfectly wonderful!

If 154 families commit to this weekly amount, we will fully fund the Restoring God’s House project. 

If you wish to contribute to a specific item for the Church, kindly talk with Fr. Michael or email him at frmichael@sjotc.org.

You can choose to pledge weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly, or any other frequency that suits your needs. Below are some suggested total pledge amounts for your consideration. 

Want to give weekly gifts?

• $192.31 per week is total pledge amounts of $10,000
• $96.15 per week is total pledge amounts of $5,000
• $76.92 per week is total pledge amounts of $4,000
  
• $50 per week is total pledge amounts of $2,600
• $30 per week is total pledge amounts of  $1,560
• $25 per week is total pledge amounts of $1,300
• $10 per week is total pledge amounts of $520

Want to give monthly?

• $833.34 per month is total pledge amounts of  $10,000
• $416.67 per month is total pledge amounts of  $5,000
• $333.34 per month is total pledge amounts of $4,000
  
• $300 per month is total pledge amounts of $3,600
• $200 per month is total pledge amounts of $2,400
• $100 per month is total pledge amounts of $1,200
• $50 per month is total pledge amounts of $600

If we receive more then our goal, any over will go towards future growth projects that we need. And there are some frequently asked questions below the form. 

I see the area growing, why are we not building a larger Church?

For over a year, Fr. Michael has been trying to figure out what is needed to be done for St. John of the Cross. We have more than double the amount of people that come on a Sunday since Fr. Michael became pastor about 4.5 years ago, so a larger church makes sense. He started with looking at expanding the current church and found out that since it was a prefabricated metal building from the 1980s, it does not meet current codes, and if we try to expand, we would have to address that, and he has been told that it would be better to build a new building and not touch the church because basically you would have to destroy the church to do that. And this is the same with the Cross Center as well; it is a prefabricated metal building from the 1990s and does not meet current codes. So the next step was to see if we could afford a new building. If you remember, in 2019, when Fr. Linh was pastor, and he did a master plan, and part of that master plan was to build a new Family Life Center that is more than 15,000 SF and had a basketball court, kitchen, bathroom, and meeting room. If we try to build that today, it would cost us about $6 million, which we could not make it work now because it would take so long to raise that money, about 4 plus years, that by the time we can afford it, the cost of the building would have increased a lot. Also, that building would seat around 800-900 people and is more of a temporary building that would fit us for maybe 10 years because the area is growing, and we are currently getting, during the school year, 700 or more people at our 11 a.m. Spanish Mass. It would work for a while for the other masses, but the other masses are growing as well. So realistically, we need about $10-12 million to build a proper-size church that would fit us for many decades. This does not mean that we are in a bad shape and need a larger church now. We have plenty of space left at other Masses and even at the 11am. It would be nice to not have people in three locations at the 11am yes, but fortunately we still have room to grow. 

Why are we putting more money into the current church?

The current church will become our chapel in the future, where we will do funerals, weddings, daily mass, adoration, and more, when we are able to build a larger church, so any money we put into the current one is not going to waste. Also, after this, we do not see what else we need to do for the current church. As of now, we will be done after these improvements. 

Why are we not doing a fundraiser to save money for a larger church?

Besides the fact that we need new pews and flooring in the church, it can be difficult to do a fundraiser that is just saving money and getting nothing out of it. People like to see results, so whatever we go over the goal of $200,000 will go towards future growth projects like a larger church.

Why only a year long fundraiser? Would it not be better to do a two or three year to save up more money?

Fr. Michael would like the flexibility to reevaluate where we are at in a year and see if anything changes, and if we need to change or continue the fundraiser for more than a year. 

Why not refinish the pews?

To refinish and reveener the pews would be about 60-70% of getting new hardwood pews, and they would need to be reveenered in about another 10-15 years. So it is worth spending more now for all hardwood pews that will last a lot longer.

I know we need to new pews, why are we also doing the floor and liturgical items (baptism font, ambo, etc.)?

The floor does need to be replace because it has started to separate from the concrete will only get worse over time, and if we try to fix the few spots, first we have to match the current tile, which will be impossible; second, it will make that separation even worse. As for the liturgical items, not only is it good to match everything in one theme, but once we have done these upgrades, we will not need to do anything with the current church and we can enjoy them now. Even when we are able to build a larger current, the current church will become a chapel for daily Masses, adoration, funerals, weddings, and other celebrations, so whatever we do now will last for a long time.

Can I donate an item in memory of a loved one?

Yes, of course you can. Please talk with Fr. Michael or email him at frmichael@sjotc.org

What will happen to the current pews and other items being replaced?

Our plan is to sell some, if not all, of the pews, so if you would like to buy one, please contact the office. As for the liturgical items, we are going to keep them just in case we need them for future use. 

Can we do a food sale for the fundraiser?

Yes, of course you can! Please contact the office.

What can I do to help with the fundraiser? Can I donate my time, materials, or labor?

At this time, we do not need any materials; those have been chosen so we can match everything. As for labor, there is a possibility that we might need some people to help us, so please talk with the office to let us know that you might be able to help if needed. 

I am not good with computers, can be someone help me with donating online or do I have to donate online? 

We do prefer that you pledge and donate online because it helps you be able to make changes, updates, and make payments when you can. If you do not feel comfortable with donating online, please at least pledge online and give us a check or cash. We would like to keep track of where we are at in our goal and have people see how much everyone has pledged. The office is always there to help you do anything if needed. 

What happens if we don’t reach our goal?

We will try our hardest and promote this fundraiser, and whatever we get is a blessing from God. We, of course, would love to make and exceed our goal. 

Will Mass or other services be affected during construction?

We will communicate if there is anything affected, but we hope to keep everything to a minimum.

Is my donation tax-deductible?

Yes, ever donation to St. John of the Cross is tax-deductible.

What are future projects after this fundraiser?

We will commicate if and when we have future projects, so stay tuned.

Will there be updates? Who will oversee the project?

We will give updates over time to what we have raised and where we are for the fundraiser, and you can always check back to this page to see how close we are to our goal. Fr. Michael is the one overseeing everything. 

What if my financial situation changes and I can not commit to my promised pledge?

If anything happens and you cannot continue or finish your promised pledge, we understand and please contact the office to let us know. And if there is anything that we can do to help, please let us know. 

The Church need larger bathrooms, are we adding bathroom to the church?

We have been trying to figure out what we can do to get more for the Church because it would be nice to have them. Unfortunately, it does not make sense to just build bathrooms because of commercial permits, fire sprinklers, and other things since we are a business. It would cost way too much for a small building. Our understanding is that the smaller the commercial building, the more per SF. The only thing that would make sense is a portable building bathroom. I have looked at those, and those would cost $150,000 for the building itself, which could work temporarily, but that would make this current project $360,000 with installation of bathrooms. I think at this time it would be better if we get anything over $200,000 should go to saving for a larger church. Do the current bathrooms work? For the most part. Would it be nice to have a larger bathroom, just as a larger church? Yes.