What is the Legacy Campaign?
The Church of St. Mary Legacy Campaign is a capital campaign to raise
funds to expand the entire parish campus. Because this is such a large
undertaking a comprehensive Long-Range Master Plan has been broken down
into four phases. Phase 1 will expand the school classrooms as well as
update facilities. Phase 2 will continue the school expansion along with
a gym. Phase 3 as well as Phase 4 will focus on the church expansion.
The legacy of St. Mary's began in 1862 with the building of the first
church during the Civil War. Today the campus consists of several very
old buildings and time has taken its toll on the physical structures.
The time has come to do something about it. Please help us preserve our
parish campus, ensuring that it continues to thrive as the center of
Catholicism in Sycamore. Please join us in supporting the Legacy Campaign!
Phase 1 of the Faith Formation Center
Phase 1, currently underway, is about the future of Catholic education
at St. Mary's. The first phase of the long-range plan became necessary
due to the fact that we are losing the use of the Murphy building, which
is owned by Vencor Hospital. We currently have school students using
that building daily and religious education students using it weekly.
Losing that building will displace them, so our first priority in
expanding our campus will be to provide for these students.
The last building our community built for educational purposes was
completed 48 years ago. Since then thousands of St. Mary parishioners
have been educated in our faith using these facilities. Recently we have
experienced a major growth in terms of students in our school, in the
religious education program and in youth ministry involvement.
