Announcement of Bishop’s Annual Appeal and Nolensville Property

I want to share good news with you!  On January 24th of this year, the Diocese of Nashville purchased a beautiful piece of property in Nolensville, TN.  This was a collaborative effort between our parish of Holy Family and the Diocese.  The 166-acre property sits right on Nolensville Road, 4 miles south of Nolensville proper and 3 miles north of I-840.  With this size and location, this property offers not only the ability to build a new parish and school but also provides long-range “campus” potential for future expansion, including the possible development for a middle school, high school, and other facilities to serve Catholic community needs.  The purchase price of $4.2 million dollars was funded through the generosity of two anonymous families giving $3.2 million with the remaining $1 million invested by the Diocese.  The reason for conducting this search and purchase of property is due to the incredible growth we are experiencing, not only in Metro Nashville, but even more so in Williamson and Rutherford counties.  We, at Holy Family, presently have over 2,800 registered families, and we average 20 new families every month.  It appears that approximately 400 of our families live within a 15-minute drive of the new property.  Bishop Spalding has prioritized the initial formation of a church on the property which will begin as a ministry of Holy Family under my leadership.  As the Holy Family team and the Diocese work together to accomplish this, more information will be made available.  It is likely that no official action will be taken regarding establishing a new parish until at least mid-2021.  I invite you to view a video of the property at 7668 Nolensville Road.

I also want to share news regarding this year’s Bishop’s Annual Appeal that begins this weekend.  The Diocese is making an effort to shift the primary financial support of our Diocese from a Parish tax-based system to that of support based on voluntary contributions through this annual appeal.  Holy Family is currently assessed over 20% of the revenue we receive from weekly collections.  The Diocese has committed to reduce our assessment by 2% this year and has set our Bishop’s Annual Appeal goal for this year at $230,000.  I strongly encourage us as parish community to meet this goal, to not only support the outreach ministries of the Diocese, but to also contribute to the reduction of our monthly assessment to the Diocese which is currently almost $50,000.  You will find information in the pews and on our website about how to pledge.

Our Holy Family community receives so many blessings as a result of your generosity and for that I am grateful.  Please join me as we support the Diocesan efforts of outreach and parish expansion in Nolensville.