You are here: home >> offices >> construction

Prince of Peace Catholic Church, Flowery Branch. (Photo by Michael Alexander, The Georgia Bulletin.)

Facilities Planning and Large Capital Process

Welcome

Watch the Web Site Overview training video

The sixty-nine county area that comprises the Archdiocese of Atlanta continues to experience significant population growth. The growth creates a strain on existing Archdiocesan facilities and also highlights the need for new facilities. Therefore, one of the key challenges facing pastors is the maintenance, renovation, and expansion of parish facilities. Pastors and parishes need to know how the process works when a parish believes it needs to expand.

The planning and construction of facilities is an exciting but long effort and process for a parish. These web pages contain the key information that a pastor and parish will need to begin the process, as well as an overview of the entire process. We hope that by providing information and tools, parishes will be able to more quickly and effectively identify the key projects that are both important and feasible for their future growth and obtain conceptual approval for them.

Tips for Using this Website

If you are a first-time user of this site, we recommend that you review each of the pages in the order they appear on the side bar.  (They are navigation links so just click on each to open each page)

Also, we would like to draw your attention to the Frequently Asked Questions (near the bottom of the navigation side bar) as it may answer many of your queries without having to look through the pages.

Overview/Introduction

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Atlanta, with the support of his advisors, has promulgated various policies and related procedures for New Construction, Renovations and Maintenance Projects. Per Canon Law, the properties in the Archdiocese belong to the Archdiocese rather than to individual parishes. Therefore, the Archbishop has a responsibility to steward these resources and parishes must obtain the Archbishop’s approval before proceeding with major capital improvements to the facilities and properties. For an understanding of what constitutes a major capital improvement and to see a more detailed explanation of the Bishop's role in administrating temporal goods in the diocese click Archdiocese Large Capital Planning Policies and Thresholds.

The purpose of this Web site is to establish processes, policies, procedures and useful tools to those engaged in the development and execution of Facility and Large Capital Projects for the Archdiocese of Atlanta (AOA). Specifically it is designed with three primary goals in mind:

1. To help parishes understand how to begin a large capital project.
2. To provide access to the geo-demographic information for individual parishes. 
3. To explain the steps needed and materials used to obtain the Archbishop's Conceptual Approval required in undertaking a large capital project. 

There are several Archdiocesan offices key to the execution of this process. Please see a description of their roles below:

• The Catholic Construction Services (CCSI) has been assigned responsibility for the oversight and administration of the facilities of the Church. The Director of CCSI is the primary contact for the initiation of the project design approval process. The contact should begin after the Archbishop’s conceptual project approval is received and continues through the project's completion and warranty under the control of the Project Manager as the Archdiocese’s and parishes’ (Owners') representative.
• The Research and Planning Office provides assistance in the front end of defining projects and in understanding parish demographic growth, especially the establishment of new missions and parishes. In addition, it provides geo-demographic analysis to assist in planning. These geo-demographic reports have been developed for the existing parishes and are available on this web site.
• The Finance Department is a key resource in the review of cost and operating projections and in project finance. Finance can also assist in any campaign tracking and investment of campaign receipts.
• The Information Technology Office provides assistance in the assessment and evaluation of technology needs (computers, wiring, phone and security systems), request for proposals (RFPs), cost comparisons, etc.
• The Stewardship Office provides support for the evaluation of fund-raising opportunities, consultants and techniques for capital campaigns.
• The Catholic Schools and Religious Education Offices are available to provide support in the evaluation of program needs and faculty requirements for Catholic schools, Pre-School programs and Parish Religious Education.

For further explanations and/or comments, contact either the Research and Planning Office or Catholic Construction Services (CCSI). For a list of key contacts, click Contacts.

For a graphic overview of the Large Capital Process, click Large Capital Process Overview.