Where will St. Albert's priests live?

Many of the people who have considered the "Building Faith: A New Generation" proposal  have immediately asked, "where will the priests live?".  That question is one that has challenged us as a parish since our founding 60 years ago.  Fr. Winters lived in the original farmhouse (in the current parking lot C) from 1959 until his death in 1983.  In 1977 when Fr. Viall arrived he quickly built a priest house in St. Thomas Woods (directly behind the church building). In 1982, the Humility of Mary Sisters ended their ministry at St. Albert, and Fr. Viall had their 1964 convent renovated into the current parish offices and priest residence. 


For several decades the thinking in the church has been that it is not healthy or appropriate to have the clergy living in the public ministry spaces.  Due to these concerns and the increasing limited space for offices, we began searching for an improved living situation for the priests in 2014. The original intention was to purchase another home in St. Thomas Woods and remodel it to fit our needs.  Houses were not readily available. In 2018, the lot at the corner of Wallings and Hillary Dr. which the parish owns was identified as a very reasonable and convenient place to build a new and appropriate residence for the priests.

With the advice of Chuchiarelli Builders (Carlo Chuchiarelli, parishioner), the architectural expertise of David Potts (parishioner, who is lead architect for the Building Faith project), and the advice/drawings of several other pastors who have built priest residences we have proposed a modest 2500sq ft. single story home with a finished walkout lower level.  It will have three suites of rooms, one for each priest and a guest room for seminarians/deacons.  We have sought the permits of the city and permission of the Bishop to begin this project as soon as possible.  We are hoping that parishioner-contractors, tradesmen, and retailers will contribute time and materials to the accomplishment of this new house.  Our ideal timing would allow the priests to move into the house in January 2020.  


Thank you for your interest in our Building Faith Plan.  Thanks also for what I perceive as a sincere concern about the quality of life we can provide for our priests here.  The new priest residence received the highest percentage of priority from the feasibility study.  Hope you will see us breaking ground before June. 
Fr. Estok