MAY 2022

We Need Your Input!

Our parish has embarked on a Fundraising Planning Feasibility Study. Our community of parishioners are being asked to participate! We have consulted you on our building plans, gained your initial feedback and we are now looking at how to move forward with these plans to meet God’s changing world.

As our first step, we have retained M&M International, an independent consulting firm, to conduct a confidential Planning Feasibility Study on our behalf. There will be confidential interviews to a broad cross-section of parishioners.

Also, all parishioners are invited to hear more about the plans for Holy Family to share their feedback at an OPEN FORUM AFTER ALL MASSES ON JUNE 4th AND 5th. Participants will be asked to complete a short questionnaire and there will be an opportunity to ask questions during the forum.

We hope to see you there!  

October 15, 2021

Dear Holy Family Parishioner, 

As we continue as a community to navigate what has been such a challenging time for the world, even still, in this season of Thanksgiving, there is much to be grateful for. And so, we hope and pray that you and your family have stayed well and that these months have provided opportunities to connect with each other that were not anticipated.

At this time, we would like to update you on our Parish building plan, which we are sure you are aware, has been underway for a few years. When we last communicated with you in the spring it was our intent to conduct a detailed Feasibility Study survey with a number of parishioners early this fall as the pandemic restrictions began to lift. While progress is being made in a return to a semblance of a more normal life, the reopening at this point is not as far advanced as we had hoped.

As a result, it has been decided to postpone the Feasibility Study survey until the first quarter of 2022. While we are motivated to continue with the building plan process, we feel that with the current uncertainty associated with the on-going pandemic and the resulting protocols and limitations, it is prudent to take this action. We know this project is too important to the long term growth and success of all that the faith community of Holy Family Parish can be to rush the process.

We are pleased to advise you that work continues behind the scenes to complete various site studies and gain the municipal approvals that will be needed before actual construction can commence.

You are encouraged to view the building plan drawings and previous communications concerning this exciting project.

We welcome your feedback on the plan at any time.
Our church is continuing the gradual reopening process. This month we are resuming our Youth programs in the hall as well as various Small Group, Faith Formation and Ministry programs. The scheduling of these in-person meetings and activities is again creating space challenges which further reinforce the view that additional space is needed to be able to welcome the many people engaged in their faith and parish life through these opportunities.

Please continue to pray for the Building Committee and the success of this project so we may fulfill our parish mission to love God, love others and make disciples and further build our church for the future.

Yours in Christ,
Holy Family Building Committee

March 2021

Dear Parishioner,

As we are now enjoying the transition of our world into the beauty and new birth of spring, and as we approach Holy Week and Easter, we hope and pray that you and your families are all well and looking forward to the most important celebration of our Catholic faith and the opportunities it brings for our own spiritual re-birth. And as the world continues to return from the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic through continued health and safety protocols and the spreading wave of vaccinations, we also pray that our lives will soon return to the fulness of the physical and social freedoms we enjoyed in the past.

We know how our church and the ability to engage in our faith have been greatly affected by the events of this past year, and certainly the attendance at Masses and participation in our on-line faith opportunities have understandably declined. We are so looking forward to that day when we can welcome everyone back to church, and enjoy being together to celebrate Mass fully and to gathering to resume our relationships.

We also want to invite you to consider the purpose and concepts of such a project from the viewpoint of continuing to grow our community of faith over the next decades, and not only as it is connected to this period of time. The Master Plans that have been developed are intended to serve the faith needs of our very vibrant and growing parish to continue to live our mission to love God, love others and make disciples for the future.

So, imagine if you will, what the changes to our building could mean for all of us, for each of us… What would you envision? There would be a beautiful atrium adjacent to the worship space of the church where people would be able to gather and share life in meaningful ways as they had started to do in our Gather Café. There would be available meeting rooms and spaces to accommodate a wide variety of faith programs, groups, and events so that there could be multiple activities taking place on any day or evening. There would be the availability of a large open hall and smaller separated rooms to allow for further growth of our youth programs and in particular our Sunday morning Time Travellers! There would be ample space and opportunity for special activities during the weekdays, such as Moms and Tots, continued and further growth of options for our maturing adults, special groups who give of their time and talent to support the needs of the parish, and even classes or workshops could be available to help people in our community grow in all areas of their life! What an amazing centre of faith, love, support and hospitality this could be. What we have come to realize, is that this is what our mission and our faith calls us to do, and what we have been nurturing over these last few years.

We ask that you please do spend some time looking at the proposed plans and the communications on our parish website at holyfamilywhitby.ca, and allow yourself to envision the possibilities. Please also feel free to share with us your questions or ideas. While a renovation would be exciting and new, and probably very nice to look at, all of this effort, cost and consideration is not about creating a beautiful building. It is about ensuring that we have the physical space to allow us to continue all we’ve done to grow the irresistible environment and community of Holy Family Parish that welcomes people, serves people, and invites them in to be engaged in this community of faith for the next 30 years.

Please continue to pray for the building committee, and for this project, that we will be able to see our way to continuing to build up our parish, and God’s kingdom, in the way that He intends.

Yours in Christ,

The Building Committee

Dear Holy Family Parishioners,

We hope that you were able to take a few minutes to review our last communication regarding the update of the Holy Family Building Committee. The development of the Master Plan for the building expansion and renovation of our parish continues to be energized by the ongoing special needs of all that we do here at Holy Family Parish.

The Holy Family Building Committee recognizes that an undertaking of the Church Renovation and Expansion will require significant financial resources from the Holy Family Community. We are pleased to share that our current Building Fund raised, to date, is $750,000.00. These funds are derived primarily from parishioner contributions to the Restoration and Maintenance Fund, net of savings after expenses in the restoration and maintenance of the Church facilities. It is important that you know that 100% of contributions directed to this fund remain in the parish. From this time on, a reporting of the Fund Total will be shared periodically, generally through the parish bulletin. The total capitalization target of the Fund will be determined after review and comments received at our upcoming information session. The Holy Family Parish Community Consultation on the Building Plan will be held virtually on November 17 and there will also be physical display panels set up for viewing in the Father Breen Hall on Friday, Saturday and Sunday Nov. 19 to 21 inclusively. The information will also be shared on Flocknote, and posted on the Holy Family website after November 17. We invite you to please consider taking the time to take a look at the proposed plans one way or another, and to provide your feedback, as this project is intended to further grow our community of faith, and to serve everyone in our parish.

We anticipate that one question that will arise is regarding the funds raised through the Family of Faith Campaign from a few years ago. It should be noted that according to criteria set by the Archdiocese of Toronto, the Family of Faith Campaign proceeds received must be dedicated exclusively to faith formation programs and not towards renovation or building expansion of the Church.

We are hopeful that parishioners recognize the need for these changes to our physical space to provide appropriate gathering for faith opportunities, and that they will share the vision of our Church and support this ambitious endeavour to improve our facilities to better love God, love others and make disciples.

Wishing you all God’s peace,

Holy Family Building Committee

Dear Parishioner,

We hope that all of our parish families are doing well and keeping safe.

At this time, our Church is also seeing an increase in activity from a number of ministries and groups. Our youth programs have commenced in-person gathering with safe distancing. A number of First Communion and Confirmation ceremonies were finally held. We have started sacramental preparation registration for this school year as well. The Church attendance has been increased to the allowable capacity, while still maintaining safe distancing practices, wearing of face masks and thorough sanitizing after all Masses.

Progress also continues with the Building Committee. Since our last letter to the parish community on July 29th, the committee has maintained communication with the architect to establish a parishioner information session – Holy Family Parish Community Consultation on Building Plan to be held on November 17th via zoom. Further details are to be provided in the coming weeks.

Ongoing communication with the Chancery Office of the Archdiocese of Toronto continues to encourage our efforts. In spite of this expression of support, it is clear that the full backing of this vision for the future potential of our parish will need to come from the Holy Family parishioners. And so, we hope and pray that when the time comes for us to share information about this vision, you will consider accepting the invitation to attend a session virtually. We will be looking for parishioner input and feedback.

We ask you to continue to pray for the future of our parish, the Building Committee, and the whole Holy Family Parish Community.

Yours in Christ,

Holy Family Building Committee

July 29, 2020

Dear Holy Family Parishioners,

Whether you have been attending Holy Family for many years, or you have just recently joined us, we hope and pray that you feel welcome here and that this parish is part of your home. Over these past few years, we have intentionally focused on living out our call to the mission given by Jesus. With some changes to what and how we do things, this has proven difficult at times, due to the limitations of the physical space we share in this building.

For this reason, a Building Committee was formed at Holy Family about a year ago to find a solution to the problem of limited meeting space to accommodate the many Ministry, faith formation and group activities going on in our Church. Also, the shortage of office space has been a growing concern.

I have been heartened to see the parishioners of Holy Family showing a great desire for practicing their faith and participating in numerous faith opportunities. These include Alpha, Bible studies, Faith Formation, R.C.I.A., Youth Programs, Prayer Groups, courses, meetings and conferences, as well as more informal gatherings to share faith, among others. Many parish groups also meet regularly such as the CWL, Knights of Columbus, and adults and students for Sacramental Preparation, all of which requires appropriate spaces. This show of support from the parishioners in all that is being offered here at Holy Family has encouraged our work on the Building Committee.

The Committee has consulted an architect with significant experience in working on church renovations and expansions within the Archdiocese of Toronto. After many meetings to revise our vision, we now have a Draft Master Plan to review with you. We have also maintained ongoing communication with the Archdiocese of Toronto and have received the approval to continue this process.

When it is deemed safe to do so, I will be inviting you to an information meeting so that we may share these exciting concepts with you, and receive your feedback and suggestions, as part of an on-going dialogue with our parish community. The Maintenance Fund which has been collected over the past few years will, in part, serve to begin this work. This building plan will help us better serve our Holy Family community and help us live out our Mission to love God, love others, and make disciples.

Please pray for this vision for our parish future, the Building Committee, and the Parish, that we may be true to where God and our desire to be disciples will take us.

Yours in Christ,

Rev. Fr. László Nagy Pastor