My husband attended school at St. Francis Xavier more than 25 years ago and has been a parishioner his entire life. The school and church helped shape his faith and many of the values he now passes along to our own children.
For me, SFX has taken on another deeply personal meaning. It is the resting place of our son, Jack, and the place where I feel physically closest to him while also feeling his presence alongside God.
That makes this campaign feel very personal to our family. SFX connects our past, present and future—my husband’s childhood, our children’s lives today, our son Jack, and hopefully generations of families who will come after us. I feel fortunate to have an opportunity to help care for a place that has cared for our family in so many different ways.
Please share a moment, ministry or experience at St. Francis Xavier that had a lasting impact on your faith or your family?
St. Francis Xavier became especially meaningful to our family after the loss of our infant son, Jack, to cancer. Jack is buried in the columbarium attached to the church, and every Sunday our family sits in the pew just on the other side of the wall from him. There is something incredibly comforting about having that physical closeness to him while we attend mass together. SFX has become not only the place where we practice our faith, but also a place where our entire family can still feel together.
During the hardest time in our lives, our parish community showed us what it truly means to be the Church. Parishioners we didn’t even know personally approached us to offer prayers, condolences and support. Father Joe came to the hospital to meet Jack, pray over him and our family, and continued to support us after his death. Those acts of kindness and faith are something our family will never forget.
Why do you believe St. Francis Xavier is important to Mountain Brook and the surrounding communities?
St. Francis Xavier is a community rooted in both tradition and growth. Generations of families have worshipped, learned and grown in their faith here, while the parish continues to serve new generations.
One part of SFX’s impact that can sometimes be overlooked is its PSR program. There are so many children who do not receive Catholic education during their regular school day who come to our campus to learn and grow in their faith. Because they aren’t on campus every day like our school students, it can be easy to forget just how many children and families the parish reaches through PSR. SFX’s impact extends far beyond the families we see at school each morning or even at a particular Sunday Mass.
What traditions, ministries or values of our parish do you hope will continue for years to come?
More than any individual tradition or ministry, I hope SFX continues its tradition of perseverance and its willingness to grow. This parish has faced significant challenges throughout its history, including rebuilding after the church fire, and its parishioners have always stepped forward to help.
I hope our children grow up knowing that being part of a parish means more than simply attending Mass. It means taking responsibility for the community we’ve inherited, caring for it and making it stronger for the people who come after us.
What excites you most about the Capital Campaign and the projects it will support?
I’m most excited about seeing the physical spaces of SFX better reflect the vibrant community that already exists here. The parish hall and portions of the school have gone largely untouched since the 1950s. These buildings have served generations of parishioners and students incredibly well, but they are showing their age.
I’m especially passionate about improving accessibility. Our school building is not currently ADA compliant, and I strongly believe that every person, regardless of ability or disability, should be able to access and enjoy the same spaces within our parish and school community.
How do you hope these improvements will benefit future parishioners, families and students (school and PSR)?
I’m most excited about seeing the physical spaces of SFX better reflect the vibrant community that already exists here. The parish hall and portions of the school have gone largely untouched since the 1950s. These buildings have served generations of parishioners and students incredibly well, but they are showing their age.
I’m especially passionate about improving accessibility. Our school building is not currently ADA compliant, and I strongly believe that every person, regardless of ability or disability, should be able to access and enjoy the same spaces within our parish and school community.
If you were speaking to another parishioner who is on the fence on whether they should support this campaign, what would you tell them?
I understand the hesitation. When a building is this old and needs this much work, it can almost feel easier to think it is too far gone and that we should simply start over. But starting over would come at an enormous cost, both financially and in what we would lose.
So much of what we value in our communities has survived because previous generations didn’t give up on something simply because maintaining it was difficult. They invested in it, adapted it and preserved it for the people who came after them. We have the opportunity to do the same for SFX—to honor its history without being limited by it and make these spaces work for the generations that will follow us.
Complete this sentence: “I support the St. Francis Xavier Capital Campaign because...”
I support the St. Francis Xavier Capital Campaign because I want the physical home of our parish to reflect the strength, warmth and vitality of the people who make up our church—and to be a place that is welcoming and accessible to everyone.
