Our Parish Council Officers with our signed loan!
The initial goal of our Capital Campaign was to fund the construction of the Sanctuary, to retrofit new construction to existing facilities, and to fund the repayment of existing debt for Founders’ Hall. Thanks be to God, $3.5 million was pledged in Phase One of our Capital Campaign.
Phase Two of our Capital Campaign will begin in the Spring of 2021. Initial lead gifts of $1.5 million have been pledged. Our intention will be to fund the remaining $5 million cost of Sanctuary construction which is estimated at $8.5 million.
We will accomplish this goal through prayerfully and respectfully: 1) Concluding the three-year, generous building fund pledges from all persons and households who call Saint Anna Shrine Church their spiritual home; 2) Re-engaging existing households that have supported this project as well as those families at our Parish who have yet to do so; 3) Extending an invitation to all who venerate and seek the intercessions of St. Anna; 4)Honoring each and every gift; 5)Assuring accurate, conservative, expenditures and accounting at all times.
Our long-range capital fund-raising goal is to achieve ALL of the completion of the interior of the Sanctuary. The dome, woodwork, liturgical accouterments and iconography will, of necessity add significant, additional hundreds of thousands of cost to our present $8.1 million capital fund-raising goal. We will raise as much of all necessary funds as possible now, in this campaign.
This capital fund-raising campaign continues to enhance the spiritual vitality of our Parish. Upon the construction of our Sanctuary, in which we will celebrate the liturgical life of our Orthodox Christian faith, we will re-purpose our existing chapel into our fellowship hall and parish library, while our existing fellowship hall and bookstore will be re-purposed into four classrooms. In addition to this new and greater designated space for worship, fellowship, study and hospitality, our parishioners will spiritually mature through increased prayer, ongoing education, and the generous giving necessarily required to enjoy a successful campaign.
A professionally competent and pious group of laymen and women, on behalf of the Parish Council, the General Assembly, and the Metropolis of San Francisco, together with our clergy, will oversee this project. Those faithful men and women with a background in construction will lead us through the brick and mortar work, while those in finance and project management will ensure that monies are collected and spent responsibly, in a timely fashion, and in accordance with the intent of our givers. Like the construction and financing of Founders’ Hall, the construction and funding of our Sanctuary will be characterized by trust, transparency, accountability and faithfulness to the tenants to the Gospel.
The uniqueness of and need to successfully fund the construction of our Sanctuary cannot be overstated. In addition to being the first Greek Orthodox Christian Church in the United States dedicated to and seeking the intercession of St. Anna, we also possess the Holy Relics of Ss. Joachim and Anna, which, in 2007, led to our distinction as a Shrine dedicated to the sanctity of marriage and family. Since this time, we have become a destination of pilgrimage for many; and have filled our existing worship space to its capacity. The funding and construction of our sanctuary will then afford us the opportunity to meet our existing needs, to say: “Come and See!”, “Come and pray at the Holy Reliquary”, “Come and fully celebrate Orthodoxy with us”, to family and friends and to all who wish to venerate the Holy Relics. Then, in the spirit of our founder, the Rev. Fr. Demetrius Dogias, of blessed memory, to look beyond our locality on account of our spiritual vitality to then plant a daughter parish further east, all to the glory of God.