By Anthony Barich & Joanna Lawson
Members of the West Australian community have the unique opportunity to become Leadership Donors as the fundraising effort for St Mary’s Cathedral nears its end and the goal of raising $25 million comes into view.
To date, pledges and donations worth $23,809,548 have been received.
The St Mary’s Cathedral Conservation and Completion Appeal is now hoping for another $1.5m to take it over the finish line.
As part of the last push to attain the funds, the Appeal has launched the In Memoriam program which gives people, for a donation of $10,000, the opportunity to have their names and those of loved ones who have passed away carved into a stone panel which will be set into the wall of the completed Cathedral.
Donations of $10,000 and above will be designated as Leadership Gifts and will be afforded special acknowledgement, donors will be invited to join Archbishop Barry Hickey for a private Mass and Memorial Dedication Ceremony at which the memorial will be unveiled.
The Memorial Wall will offer three areas of recognition:
l Leadership Donors – the names of all general leadership donors,
l Specific Gifts – the specific project or item funded and the donor’s name, and
l In Memoriam – a “register of loved ones” including the donor’s name.
On top of all this, an annual Mass will be offered at the cathedral in remembrance of all leadership donors and gifts provided in the memory of loved ones.
The Memorial area is located adjacent to the south west entrance of the yet-to-be-completed cathedral.
Monsignor Michael Keating, Chairman of the Appeal, said that the program was an excellent opportunity for donors to have people who have been significant figures in their lives publicly recognised.
“We have found that people who have donated $5000 have heard about the program and then put in the extra $5000,” Mgr Keating said.
In Memoriam will also feature a Book of Remembrance which will sit in the narthex – the entrance hall at the west end of a Christian church between the porch and the nave of the Cathedral.
The book will also include images, drawings and artists’ details of specific works and artworks contained in the new cathedral; plus the names of all leadership donors and a “register of loved ones” for gifts made In Memoriam.
To ensure donation confidentiality, recognition items will not record the donation amounts provided by individual donors.
Only the donor’s name and/or information on the specific item funded or In Memoriam details will be publicly acknowledged.
The building is due to be finished about Easter 2009.
For more information, go to www.stmarysappeal.com.au, call (08) 9427 0322 or email admin@stmary’s appeal.com.au.
