​We're excited to share today some dreams and plans we have for the future, specifically for the future of our worship space at St. Joseph. We’ve made some gradual upgrades to our worship space (which we call the South Worship Space) over time, but we realize now more than ever that we need to make some significant upgrades to our worship space so that it’s less temporary in nature and better suited to our needs as a growing, modern, and online church. We have been blessed to have some amazing friends and partners who are helping us design and plan our space upgrades. We even have some rough sketches to share!

​In this photo above, you’ll see a sketch of the worship space with:

• a new wall behind the altar to allow for liturgical lighting
• new screens so everyone can easily see lyrics, images, and videos 
• a lighting truss hung over head which will dramatically improve our ability to light key spots
• new and consistent staging that doesn’t creak and provides sufficient space for us to lead worship

One of the dreams we have with our space is to be able to better control lighting. Being able to darken the space allows us to use lighting intentionally to engage and draw people into the experience of worship. While we can and will use some window tinting and curtains in certain areas, we’re planning to construct some walls in the back of the worship space to help control the lighting and improve the acoustics of the space. 

​The photo above shows the entrance to the worship space as you approach the steps (the walls are highlighted in yellow). As you approach the steps, you’ll see a mounted welcome screen, and if you go up the steps, you can enter the worship space to the right.

​​The photo above shows the view up the ramp as you enter the worship space, with a wall constructed to block the light and sound that enters from the hallway near the courtyard.

​The photo below shows a view looking from the back of the worship space toward the information desk.

​I realize it may be hard to really visualize these changes but they will vastly improve our experience of worship from an audio, visual, and lighting perspective.

We’ve been working with the best professionals in the Boston area to scope out this work and we’re really excited about the possibilities. In addition to upgrades to our physical worship space, we also need to invest in technology for recording and streaming. In our new hybrid world, we must invest in technology to continue and expand what we’re doing online and in person. We need to invest in upgrading computers and purchasing new equipment.

Finally, we have dreams of refreshing our kids spaces so that our church is an engaging, fun space for kids--a church kids want to come to. The photos above are some photos, not of our space, but of some inspiration for where we’re hoping to go with our kids spaces in the future.

To move toward making those dreams and plans a reality, we are inviting you to make a one-time gift to New Roads in the coming week. As we’ve been dreaming with God about the future at New Roads, a family in our community has generously stepped up to give to get us started--and, they want to encourage and inspire others to give by offering to match every gift made to this effort.

All gifts of any amount, from $100, $1,000, $5,000, all the way up to an individual gift of $25,000 will be matched. To be clear, this is a one-time commitment to support this project. We won’t be coming back to you in a month to meet a particular dollar amount. We’re praying that our community will respond to this opportunity and help us take this significant step forward. To give, simply visit: givebutter.com/NewRoadsMatch. Thank you for your support and partnership in what God is doing in our midst!

Dear New Roads friends,

We have been closely monitoring the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Belmont and around the world. There have been several local developments this week including the closure of Belmont Public Schools for 2 weeks beginning today and the Executive Order from Governor Baker this afternoon prohibiting all gatherings of over 250 people throughout the state of Massachusetts. Therefore, based on the Governor's Executive Order and in accordance with the Archdiocese of Boston guidelines, here's what you can expect from New Roads in the weeks ahead:

• Both churches, St. Joseph and St. Luke, will be closed effective immediately and continuing through March 29th.
• We are working on ways to praise God through teaching and worship online. Stay tuned for more details to come by following us online: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and our email list.
• We invite parishioners and guests to stay safe, to stay healthy, and to join us online.

As a church community, our first and foremost concern is for the safety and well-being of people--those who attend New Roads as well as our wider community. While many are cancelling events “out of an abundance of caution,” we prefer how our neighbors at Highrock Church phrased it -- “out of an abundance of love.” Our decision is based on love and care for our community. Many members of our community are over 65 years of age, which the CDC considers at higher risk for severe outcomes related to COVID-19.

As a community, we have an obligation to protect the most vulnerable among us, even if it inconveniences those of us who are not at higher risk. It seems that right now, the best way to follow Jesus’ command to “love your neighbor as yourself,” is to support the federal, state, and local efforts to slow the spread of this virus so that our neighbors are protected and our healthcare system is not overwhelmed. We are choosing not to act out of fear, but to be responsible and proactive, and to lead with love and care for our neighbors.

Finally, like many churches, we rely on our weekly offertory collection to cover our operating expenses (staff salaries & healthcare benefits, heating & maintaining our buildings, etc.). We are making an intentional choice to prioritize the health and safety of our community, but also know that cancelling Sunday Masses will be a challenge for us financially. If it’s at all possible for you and your family, please consider making a one-time gift or a recurring gift online. Thank you for your continued support of our community! 

To keep informed of further updates, we encourage you to be on the lookout for future emails as well as to follow us online using the social media links above. This is a powerful moment to be the church, to lead and live not out of fear, but out of love, to step up and to serve those in need, and to be thoughtful and creative in doing so. This is certainly a “new road” for all of us, but our God is with us and for us; God goes before us and will lead us to new life. 

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.” 
2 Timothy 1:7

With love for you, your families, and all our neighbors,
The New Roads Team
info@newroadscatholic.org

​Two weeks ago, New Roads had the honor of hosting the Rebuilt Roadshow, one of four one-day conferences this spring put on by the Church of the Nativity, a Catholic parish located in Timonium, Maryland. Several staff members from the Church of the Nativity journeyed up to Belmont to share insights and encouragement about what they’ve learned along their parish’s rebuilding journey. Through transforming their Catholic parish culture, Nativity experienced dramatic increases in weekend Mass attendance, giving, and service, amounting to nothing short of a transformation. The Roadshow is all about encouraging other parishes in their efforts to rebuild and make disciples.

About 100 people from over 25 parishes around New England came to the Rebuilt Roadshow at St. Joseph to listen and learn, ask questions, connect, and be inspired in their own rebuilding journeys. Fr. Michael White and Tom Corcoran, authors of the book Rebuilt, gave the opening and closing keynotes which were insightful and inspiring. The New Roads worship team led us in worship throughout the day, helping us feel God’s presence and bringing a palpable energy and excitement to the atmosphere. Q&A sessions allowed attendees to learn more about Rebuilt as well as what our path has been so far at New Roads. 

We were thrilled to have over a dozen of our New Roads ministers serving at the conference to make it all happen. It would not have happened without our ministers! From parking ministers to greeters to our café team to small group discussion leaders to our operations and facilities team, it was amazing to see New Roads members stepping up to serve, modeling servant leadership, and making this event possible. 

Attendees at the Roadshow were eager and curious, challenged but encouraged and open, in beginning to implement some of the transferable principles of parish rebuilding in their own parishes. We are so grateful to get to partner with Church of the Nativity and continue to benefit from their honesty, humility, and generosity as they work to make disciples, reach the lost, and make church matter--and help churches like New Roads and many others to do the same.

​The inspiration for starting this blog is to bridge a gap in communication that exists in our community. There is so much going on behind-the-scenes at New Roads--at our weekly team staff meetings, with our kids programs, with our worship team, our team health and growth, our building plans, and more. And yet, it’s too much to communicate on Sunday or even to include in a printed bulletin. 

But there’s information we want to share, ideas that people are eager to be a part of, and plans that would be helpful for people to know about, especially people on our extended team--that is, anyone and everyone who serves in ministry at New Roads. Anyone serving in ministry at New Roads is part of our team and team members get to know what is going on and what is coming up! So the primary purpose of this blog is to communicate with our whole team, not just our paid staff, but the many volunteers who make New Roads what it is!

Our goals for this blog are simple:

• To open up a communication channel with our broader team (all those who serve in ministry at New Roads)
• To communicate more clearly with our community about strategic decisions and to give us common language and understanding around strategic decisions or topics
• To help us to see how everything we’re doing fits into our larger mission and vision
• To help other churches who seek to understand or learn from what we are doing
• To give staff a voice to speak to our whole community

We’re excited to launch this blog and we invite you to subscribe by email so that you don’t miss a beat! Just enter your email address below, click submit, and you'll get an email whenever a new blog post is published.