Campaign Hits Goal

     Upon receiving the news that the “Journey’s End…Just the Beginning” capital campaign had reached its goal, the Mount Michael monastic community expressed joy and gratitude.

     The ambitious $6.2 M campaign began in March of 2003. Honorary Chairs, David and Peggy Sokol, made a lead challenge gift with a commitment to match $0.33 for every dollar donated or pledged. Over 1,500 Mount Michael friends, alumni, and alumni parents responded with an outpouring of gifts and pledges. A matching gift from the Sokols in late January pushed the campaign to its goal.

     The campaign will provide $1,000,000 for school improvements, which include upgraded athletic facilities and classroom technology enhancements. An additional $2,000,000 is dedicated to the endowment. The interest generated from the endowment will be used to maintain school and abbey facilities.

     The remaining $3,200,000 will create housing for the monastic community. Half of the community currently lives in the Priory, the north monastic residence. The Priory building was constructed as a temporary structure with a lifespan of twenty-five years. The building, now over forty years old, with failing electrical, plumbing, and heating systems, is slated for demolition.

     The abbey will add a new wing to its south monastic residence. The new wing will provide rooms for monks now housed in the Priory, as well as new common space. The addition will realize the dream of the monastic family: all members of the Mount Michael community will live under one roof.

     The monastic community is hopeful that construction will begin soon. A building committee, which will work with the monastic design committee, has been seated.