The Catholic Community of Pleasanton is rapidly growing beyond what it can offer our parishioners. The John Paul II Activity Center will fulfill the great commission to go out and grow the future of our parish and provide us  with a testimony to the Catholic presence in Pleasanton today and for generations to come.

To that end, parish leadership has been assessing our space needs and evaluating further improvements that will enable us to extend our reach to our rapidly expanding community and to bring more people to a closer relationship with God. These desires are reflected in the following identified needs
Complete the St. John Paul II Activity Center
Estimated Cost: $7 million

The John Paul II Activity Center was designed to be completed in phases. Two capital campaigns enabled the parishes to construct the Gymnasium/Hall with restrooms, shower stalls, entry foyer, and office space.

Our 2011 campaign for the JPII completion generated $3.4 million for this effort. We eliminated the $1.4 million debt on the existing JPII Gymnasium/Hall, and as of June 2015 we have $2.0 million in the bank to be used toward building the Meeting Center. Our new campaign is targeting an additional $5.7 million to complete the Center.

Meeting Rooms: We plan to create four meeting rooms, one of which can also be used for childcare. This will eliminate the need for groups to compete for available space and will create space for new and expanded programs.

Multi-Purpose Conference Center: Within the new Activity Center, we also plan to create a Multi-Purpose Conference Center which will allow for presentations, conferences, education classes, and gatherings with full audio-visual and presentation capabilities.

Kitchen Facilities: Lastly, we plan to construct a kitchen which will make it possible to significantly expand the variety of concessions offered at all events.

Complete the St. John Paul II Activity Center
Current meeting space for our parish activities and outreach into the Pleasanton Community is inadequate. Space for larger gatherings, such as workshops and conferences, is also limited. We need additional facilities to support current and future spiritual, educational, and service activities.
  • Ministries, activities, and services in our parish abound, highlighting the need for places to meet. We support 75 parish ministries from Knights of Columbus and CYO to Youth and Adult Ministries. Our Youth programs have 1,300 to 1,500 participants alone. CYO has more than 500 children participating. Virtually every room at both campuses is used every evening and some are used extensively during the day. A recent count shows that our combined facilities host over 3,500 meetings a year. Many of our parish ministries are forced to meet in homes or corners of the church and often the chapel. Some meetings are held in the Rectory dining room – our priests’ living space. We make it work, but our current facilities do not allow for growth. Scheduling space is very difficult and inconvenient. Currently, groups compete against one another for space.
  • ​A 2014, parish survey showed that 68% of respondents had a desire for more adult faith formation. 64% felt a need for young adult programs. One of our parish’s goals is to expand our outreach to the greater Pleasanton community. Yet, we find ourselves unable to respond to the desire for more adult and young adult, faith formation programs because we simply do not have adequate meeting space.
  • ​The Gymnasium/Hall enables the Catholic Community of Pleasanton to sponsor all manner of events and to host functions. But without kitchen facilities, the hospitality we can offer is limited. A new, adjoining kitchen will vastly enhance both the types of events at the Center and the quality of these events. We are about building community, and kitchen facilities will greatly facilitate that goal.​
Continued Support for the Diocese of Oakland Capital Campaign
Actual Cost: $1.64 million

Because we are members of the universal church and recognize the reciprocal relationship our parish has with the Diocese, the local church of which we are a part, gave us land for St. Augustine and St. Elizabeth Seton and provides loans for our buildings, we will honor our responsibility for outreach and charity provided by the Diocese and help the Diocese move forward with financial support.

​Support the Diocese of Oakland Capital Campaign
The marks of the Catholic Church are that it is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. All Catholics are called to demonstrate fervor by supporting the Church which is holy because God is holy; one, because all are part of the Body of Christ; and catholic, because Jesus called his disciples to preach his word to the ends of the earth. As part of one Church, all are called to provide support, and like the early disciples, to the extent they are able. Currently, the Diocese has identified the following needs:
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  • Catholic Charities of East Bay currently assist nearly 8,500 individuals annually through ministries as diverse as immigration and naturalization programs, mental health and violence prevention programs, programs promoting economic and social sufficiency, and education and workforce development programs.
  • ​The men who have served our parishes with dedication throughout their adult lives as priests, are beginning to reach an age when they can no longer minister to a parish. They must be provided with adequate retirement benefits. Currently, 45 priests in the Diocese are retired, but within 10 years, that number is expected to increase to 75 or even 100.
  • ​Catechists must be properly trained if they are to help the 49,000 children, young adults, and adults who participate in Diocesan, religious education programs annually to grow in their faith.
  • The cost of educating children in the Catholic school system cannot be met by tuition alone. Currently, the actual, annual cost is $802 per child above the tuition charged to educate an elementary school student, and $3,208 above the tuition charged to educate a secondary student.
  • Good stewardship at this time suggests that the best way to prevent large reductions in ministries and services, is to create opportunities for improving ministries and allow support of the diocesan annual operating budget as a planned restructure of existing debt which will improve the financial health of the Diocese and allow it to move forward.