UPDATE on Partners:
New Dollars/New
Partners Success Story
Photo courtesy of Mark Bowen Photography
The Church of Holy Cross-Immaculata in Cincinnati,
OH, was one of the first parishs to participate in New
Dollars/New Partners for Your Sacred Place training,
in 2003. Five years later the parish has successfully
raised funds for several projects and is celebrating its
sesquicentennial anniversary.
The cornerstone for the Church of the Immaculate
Conception, now Holy Cross-Immaculata, was laid in
August 1859 in Cincinnati’s Mount Airy neighborhood.
Sixteen months later, in December 1860, the completed
church was dedicated with a High Mass. The parish was
renamed Holy Cross-Immaculata when the Church of
the Immaculate Conception and the smaller Holy Cross
Catholic parish merged in 1970.
Since its 1860 dedication the church has had a positive
impact on the community immediately surrounding it.
The establishment of a soup kitchen and monthly food,
clothing, and toiletries collections are just some of the
programs the parish uses to help those in Cincinnati
neighborhoods. The church has a strong religious
tradition in the community as well, including a Holy Week
pilgrimage that leads worshippers uphill to the church
and then up the 90 steps leading to the church doors.
The ritual has become so well known that thousands of
pilgrims from across the country and around the world
come to participate.
In 2003 the Church of Holy Cross-Immaculata (HCI)
began having major structural problems with the roof,
with an estimated repair cost of $500,000. The leaders
of the parish knew that it was not possible for all of the
funds to come from the parish and turned to Partners for
Sacred Places’ New Dollars/New Partners training program
for guidance.
New Dollars/New Partners provided a wealth of information
to the clergy and lay leaders: from grant availability, to the
importance of telling the parish’s history, to the benefit
of creating relationships with community organizations
and businesses. Bill Frantz, Pastoral Administrator for
HCI, explains, “The New Dollars/New Partners program
helped us realize that if we want to keep our church viable,
we need to connect with others outside of the parish.”
Although the neighborhood had always felt the presence
of the parish, it was time for the greater Cincinnati area to
learn how the church contributed to the city’s history and
spiritual well being.
5 • Sacred Places • www.sacredplaces.org • Fall 2009
Archbishop of Cincinnati Daniel E. Pilarczyk blessing the
steps of Holy Cross-Immaculata.
Newsletters, an active and frequently updated website,
press releases, and interviews with the press all
contributed to the church’s increased profile citywide.
As New Dollars/New Partners training teaches, once the
larger community is reached, people see the church
more as a community asset than a place of worship.
And of course, a larger audience will ultimately help
raise more money. By following these principles, the
parish’s fundraising efforts were successful and the
roof repair was completed.
New Dollars/New Partners training also taught the
parish’s leaders that a reactive approach to building
care was not appropriate for their 100-year-old
structure; proactive monitoring and maintenance
would help catch problems while they were small
rather than allowing them to develop into large and
costly issues. One such step was the establishment of
a building-and-grounds committee, which created a
repair schedule for all buildings on the property.
Encouraged by their success, the parish began
searching for more grants to help them focus on both
current and future needs. One grant allowed the parish
to fund a building assessment, which informed their
long-term maintenance plan. A second grant rescued
a stained glass window from another church that was