Thanks to the generosity and support of the Harry & Isabel Cameron Foundation, our Ali Center expansion is currently underway. This will add a breakout room to the Ali Center which can be used for supplies, spiritual direction, leadership, or small groups during retreats. Work started in September by the CRC team and should be completed God willing, by the end of the month!
It is with great excitement that we share the CRC has been awarded a $55,000 grant for the remaining 2023 projects from the Mabee Foundation. These funds are going towards what has not been funded for the Oblate Hall renovation which includes two new HVAC systems. We have been blessed with new foundations supporting our work which has allowed the renovations to move at a faster pace.
The CRC staff has completed the Bell Tower for under $2,000 including renting the lift, replacing wood, adding vinyl canvases, and installing new lights! The tower will truly be a beacon to all and a prophetic call for each to go forth and live the Christian life following the example given in Acts of the Apostles.
Bishop Italo Dell'Oro dedicated the Chapel after 15 months of work and passion went into renovating the sacred space. With each renovation, we have three guiding questions: -what is critical? - how can we be a good stewards? - how can we teach the Faith ach of you played a role in this chapel dedication and enabled us to complete this renovation in 15 months for 8% of the cost of building a new Chapel. Together we were able to replace the HVAC and roof, install 42 piers for the foundation, reduce the chancel area to increase seating capacity, add a 5th confessional, become wheelchair accessible, install new pews, teach the Faith through theology in stone, and so much more for about $215,000.
We have 3 major HVAC systems (Meditation Chapel, Cafeteria, and Oblate) that need to be replaced. We are applying for 3 grants for some of the funding but we have a chance for a Matching Gift right now, dollar for dollar up to $8,000. Please consider making a gift. All donations that come in right now will go towards this $8,000 Matching Gift Opportunity.
The Albert & Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation has awarded the CRC $4,000 to go towards our next wheelchair-accessible room renovation which will be started in November 2023. We still need to raise the remaining $8,000 before we begin this project as well as complete and fund the six projects slated prior to this project. This wheelchair room will be located closer to Marian Hall.
We want to invite everyone to our Chapel Open House on Sunday, June 25, at 2:30 PM. We are grateful for your support through prayers, donations, and volunteers to make this renovation possible. Knowing we announced the Chapel renovation on March 25, 2022, and in 15 months, we were able to fundraise and complete 6 phases is incredible; praise be to God! We have much to celebrate, and we hope you and your ministry will join us on Sunday, June 25, at 2:30 PM for a guided tour as we share the various details of our Chapel renovation and the theological significance of what we have done. As a unique way to mark this occasion, we will have a very special gift for everyone who attends our Chapel dedication. Please share with your ministries, as many people contributed to this renovation. St. Francis heard the call to "rebuild my Church," and at the CRC, we continue responding to this call physically and spiritually.
We are very excited that the Chapel Dedication is coming soon. For everyone attending the Dedication or Open House, we will provide a relic card featuring the custom artwork designed by Rose Ann Rapp for our Chapel. This artwork depicts the Saint's role in leading us to Christ as well as features the three saints whose relics will be placed inside our altar at the dedication: St Elizabeth Ann Seton (first USA Saint), St. Angela Merici (founder of Urslines who spread the Faoth through Texas, starting in Galveston), and St. Marai Goretti (a child saint who shows the path to love of neighbor).
We are excited to share that we received a $25,000 grant from the Marek Family Foundation for our Oblate Hall interior renovation. This project is estimated at $72,700, so we are now over a third of the way through funding. Oblate Hall interior, pending funding is slated for October 2023. We have two more Foundations that we will be applying to, but they require 40% of the funding before submitting a grant. For this project, we need to raise at least $4,080 additional before being able to apply for their grant funds which could fund up to $21,810 of this project. So please consider making a donation.
The 5th Annual Bible Conference is Sold Out for July 21-23, 2023! We are looking forward to having Dr. Bergsma back for his 5th year to break open the word of God and focused on the prophets. 2024 Registration will open in September 2023, so plan to register then to attend this one-of-a-kind conference.
We are beyond excited to share that the John G. And Marie Stella Kenedy Memorial Foundation has awarded the CRC a $12,000 grant for our Meditation Chapel renovation. This project is slated for September 2023. The great news is we are now halfway funded for this project that will add two confessionals and an entrance area that serves as a working sacristry.
We are blessed by the talent of RoseAnn Rapp that was able to take our instructions and create a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. The image portrays the love of Christ through his gift on the cross and showing His most Sacred Heart. Then we see Mary, along with Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Angela Merici, and Maria Goretti. Each of the saints we can see are leading souls to Christ. There are no first-class relics of Mary, but the other three saints will be the relics placed in our altar at the Chapel dedication.
The Christian Renewal Center, a 501c3 retreat center is seeking to hire a contractor bookkeeper/accountant for bookkeeping services on a monthly and annual basis. As a contractor must pass CRC background check and be compliant with Archdiocese Safe Environment standards. The CRC utilizes QuickBooks for Non-Profits, so must be proficient in this system. This position is allowed to set their own time/day when they would come in but must be consistent to allow for bills to be paid on time and income to be processed in a timely manner. Monthly Duties Entail (estimate 8 hours a month): - Come in every other week (1st and 3rd) to process income and expenses. Make bank deposits. - By the 10th of the month due Month End Closing and Reconciled Bank Statements for Checking, CDs, Saving, and Endowment Investment - Quarterly file and pay sales tax online for Gift Shop collected from Healthcare statements and payroll reports. End of the Year Duties Entail (estimate 80 hours for the end of the year) - By January 15 email/mail 1099s to CRC Vendors - By January 20 email/mail tax letters for donors over $250 - By February 15 prepare information for CPA for 990 Form To apply email CRC Director, Kim Brown at kbrown@retreatcentercrc.org with your resume, hourly rate, and 3 work references (name, company name, email, and phone number). This is a paid job posting for contractor services. The position is a contractor, so would not include benefits.
As we have increased our capacity for guests, we needed to increase our capacity for cleaning linens. The CRC is the largest capacity Catholic retreat center in the State of Texas. That means we can directly impact more souls every day, praise be to God! Our team did a brilliant job of increasing the laundry room for our staff to use. From when the Christian Holiday House opened in 1966 and served a maximum of 60 guests at a time we have increased and have plans to continue to increase to a 374 guest capacity. This has been done by changing beds in current rooms from two twins to a full and a twin in 2/3 of the room as well as creating 20 family rooms with 2 fulls and 1 twin on top. In the next couple of years, after we have renovated what has been entrusted to our care, we plan to build two 22-person wheelchair-accessible lodges.
The Harry S. & Isabel C. Cameron Foundation has awarded the CRC a $13,253 grant for our Ali Center Expansion renovation. This project is slated for August 2023 and is now fully funded. We are expanding the Ali Center by adding a breakout room that was formerly part of the office area. Due to COVID we reduced staff size and have since built back smaller. This will allow us to add storage space as well as a breakout room.
Every Tuesday night in Lent, the CRC offers Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Confession, and Evening Prayer for all to attend. This is a free event and everyone is welcome.
The CRC is blessed with talented, passionate, and hard workers who each and every day bring their best to the CRC. Odi one of our maintenance guys recently hand-crafted an amazing Sacred Heart Mosaic for the CRC Chapel. Check out the video that shows the work in progress. Amazing what he can do with some clearance tile!
Each year thousands of men, women, and children make a retreat at the CRC and a few hundred of those each year are the men and women that are our pastors and ministers. The CRC is proud to be the spiritual home for our priests, deacons, diaconate candidates, seminarians, and religious men and women each year. Many of these men and women have been coming to the CRC for decades and each time they come back, they make comments about all the improvements and renovations. We like to think the CRC is like your soul, always striving to improve and constantly working on ourselves!
The Fall 2023 Confirmation Retreats hosted at the CRC and put on by Celopas & Company dates have been added to the calendar. These parishes are fully planned 2-night retreats for youth ministers to bring their youth groups. The cost is $159 per person and includes 2-nights lodging, 4 meals, retreat team, supplies, and everything from beginning to end of the retreat! Last Fall retreats sold out, so register your youth group now to reserve your dates.
Not counting donations of cash without donors' names, in 2022 - over 300 people, families, ministries, and Foundations donated to the CRC. The total amount donated/grants was $414,978.52. 100% of these funds are directly invested into the CRC through our renovations. Over the past 3 days, Kim has manually gone through our system to prepare end-of-the-year tax letters. Per IRS guidelines, any donation over $250 needs a tax letter from the organization. If we have your email, these were sent by email. The others were sent out by mail. By sending by email, we saved $91.25, which literally allows us to buy tile and grout for a bathroom and shower at the CRC! If there were any errors, please send Kim an email at kbrown@retreatcentercrc.org. An automatic donor software system would cost around $2,000 annually, and doing it manually costs us 3-days of Kim's labor (aka FREE). We truly strive to be the best steward of the resources entrusted to our care, and we work hard to keep our operations costs low. Thank you for entrusting us with your donations. Donations of less than $250 to a charity do not require a letter from the charity, but if you would like one, please email Kim.