Frequently Asked Questions

• The first major indicator of a need to expand is your typical Sunday Mass attendance vs. Church capacity.  This is also true for your social, religious education and administrative space.
• Second, establish growth projections based on Parish historical data and zip code projected growth.  If your parish has been growing an average of 8 families a month and the trend continues, in 5 years you might have 480 additional families to serve.  You can then compare these projections with the zip code growth projections.  If your three core zip codes are expected to grow 35% in the next five years, and you have 750 families from those three zip codes, you might have 260 additional families to serve.  By examining your parish history and the growth trends, you can have an understanding of how your parish might look in a year, 5 years, 10 years, etc.
• Third, your Pastoral plan provides an overall vision for the parish.  Therefore, you might need to expand to accommodate certain ministries or to serve your parishioners according to the Parish vision.
• Finally, your facilities master plan might provide a timeline of when to grow and expand, and what types of structures are needed.

• The data is based on projected 2000 Census data which identifies the number and race/ethnicity of people living within each county or zip code.  We then used Pew Forum ratios to understand how many individuals would self-identify as Catholic based on their race/ethnicity and residential areas.  We will be updating these reports with 2010 Census data as soon as it becomes available.
  • Key Sources
    • U.S. 2000 Census Data with 2006/2008/2010 projections from Maptitude for Racial and Ethnic Demographics
    • Georgia Department of Human Resources for records of live Hispanic Births
    • Pew Forum U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, 2008 for estimates on the percent of each demographic population is Catholic
    •  The Association of Religion Data Archives for Evangelical Congregation Membership Reports
    • ParishSoft and Kennedy Directory for calculating the total known registered and active Catholic population
    • EasiDemographic eBook for Income Demographic Data
  • Key Assumptions
    • Per Pew Forum, there tends to be an inverse relationship between white Catholics vs. Evangelicals in geographic areas, as well a trend of decreasing percentage of white Catholics as the population moves from urban to rural areas.
    • There is a reasonably constant ratio between the total Hispanic population (Undocumented and Documented) relative to county Hispanic live birth records.
    • There is relationship between county population born in Latin America and Undocumented Hispanics, as immigrants tend to congregate in the same area.
    • The majority of Hispanics primarily identify with one of two racial demographics: white or black, as opposed to American Indian or Asian American.
    • Since the Pew Georgia and National sample size were too small to subdivide Asian Americans, the Asian Catholic population in the USA is proportional to each person's country of origin. The difference in the percent of Catholics between Asian countries is significant enough to subdivide Asian Americans into several categories.
    • The proportion of demographic sub-groups (e.g. Koreans as percent of Asians) in relationship with each other remains stable between 2000 and 2010. 
    • The proportion of Registered Catholics is in relationship to the total number of families registered within each zip code.

• Start by going through the PowerPoints in sequence.  These were developed after 2 years of developing the first Large Capital Process site based on feedback we have received.  We designed them to be useful tools that will give you the language and background to help you understand the entire process. 
• Once you have gone through the materials, call or email questions to the Planning and Research Office.  We would love to hear from you and want to hear your feedback.

• The CCSI Cost Estimator is a great tool to help you get a “back of the envelope” cost of your project. 
  • GENERALIZED FORMULA FOR CALCULATING THE COST OF A PROJECT
    1. Take Desired Square Footage
    2. TIMES (X) Matriculation / Mechanical Space Multiplier
    3. TIMES (X) Unit Cost
    4. TIMES (X) Site work Multiplier
    5. TIMES (X) Construction Contingency Multiplier
    6. TIMES (X) Soft Costs Multiplier
  • This is a step by step budgeter based on the number of people to accommodate and the type of building.   The CCSI Cost Estimator accounts for soft costs.  However, you may refer to the Potential Soft Costs list to see what’s commonly included.
• To further understand the potential financial implications, the parish may review historical projects to see past budgets, designs, time lines and issues for similar types of buildings and facilities. The Historical CCSI Building Costs Examples provides examples of past building costs in the Archdiocese for seven types of projects.
• You may also call or email CCSI CEO, George Barrie to provide you with information on past similar projects and costs.

• The parish should develop historical income and expense estimates to gauge its financial capacity using the Financial Assessment Tool. This tool aids in providing a high level view of the parish’s financial capacity as well as providing a low risk and high risk range of potential dollars for a large capital project. 
• The Geo-demographic Analysis and Parish Reports provide average income statistics for all residents of particular zip codes as well as other pertinent demographic information. 
• Also, while considering a new project, a parish should review its current major maintenance needs and set aside savings to cover these capital maintenance requirements. The Capital Maintenance Inspection Questionnaire can aid in identifying these smaller projects.

• First, a parish should identify its absolute needs versus wants.  By cutting out some of the wants of the project, the cost goes down.
• Alternatively, you may decide to structure the capital project in a series of phases.  This is often a more affordable and low risk option that allows you to stop construction at optimal breaks to ensure that you can finance each part.   I.e. Build the sanctuary Phase I, and after everything is paid off in a few years, begin the reception hall in Phase II.   Or, have a simple building constructed in Phase I and add the statues and stain glass windows as part of Phase II.  Caution should be made to track progress in this type of situation.

A. Requests for approval may be submitted via email to Peter Faletti at pfaletti@archatl.com. 

A. At this point, they are available on a case-by-case basis. 

• For Parish schools, please follow the same process used by the parish.
• For CENGI schools, the first approval for your project would be from the CENGI School Board.  The second approval, if required, would be from the Deanery.  (Please review Slide #8 in Large Capital Process – Steps 1 and 2. The final approval to begin construction would come from the Archbishop.

• Any facilities improvement including construction, renovation or maintenance, that exceeds $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000, depending on the parish’s annual income:
  • If the annual offertory income of the parish exceeds $750,000, the upper limit is $15,000
  • If the annual offertory income of the parish is between $500,000 and $750,000, the upper limit is $10,000
  • If the annual offertory income of the parish is below $500,000, the upper limit is $5,000.

• The steps the Archbishop requires an Archdiocesan entity to take when embarking on a Large Capital Project.  These guidelines will help you request the appropriate approvals and conduct your project safely and efficiently.

• When your large capital project exceeds $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000, depending on the parish’s annual income:
  • If the annual offertory income of the parish exceeds $750,000, the upper limit is $15,000
  • If the annual offertory income of the parish is between $500,000 and $750,000, the upper limit is $10,000
  • If the annual offertory income of the parish is below $500,000, the upper limit is $5,000.

A. Please refer to the PowerPoint Large Capital Process – Steps 1 and 2, Slide # 4.