St. Thomas More Catholic Church, located in Coralville, recently completed a $12 million renovation project, concluding its parish’s six-year commitment to its Growing More in Faith Campaign.
The campaign was created in 2019 to address the church’s growing numbers. The campaign focused on fundraising efforts for expansion. The church added onto its worship space while completely renovating the existing building and basement.
The worship space now seats 1,100 people, nearly doubling the original capacity of the old church.
St. Thomas More has experienced growth in its parish, a primary factor in why it deemed the expansion necessary. The church moved to Coralville in 2009, with 600 households officially registered in the church, according to the church’s website. As of 2022, the parish now has over 1,500 registered households.
“With so many new families coming in, we were starting to outgrow our church,” St. Thomas More priest Chuck Adam said. “We add around 100 families a year to our parish.”
In 2019, the parish decided to start the fundraising campaign to renovate and expand its place of worship. At the time, the estimated cost of expansion was around $7 million.
“The Diocese of Davenport requires parishes to have 60 percent of the total project costs in hand before breaking ground. That’s when we started the Growing More in Faith Campaign,” St. Thomas More business manager Katie Schneider said.
The campaign came to a halt in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In-person mass was not available, and the cost of expansion rose due to inflation. The initial project cost of $7 million was then projected to be around $12 million.
Because of these obstacles, the church started searching for new ways of fundraising. One of their efforts was the Dance More-athon.
“It was a good party, and it was the evening of an Iowa football game. We had those games on television in addition to dancing,” Adam said. “This really got us going again after the pandemic.”
In addition to hosting events, the campaign hosted telethons, where they called members of the parish to ask them to pledge money toward the renovations. Schneider stressed the important role each donation played in their fundraising campaign.
“A lot of times fundraisers will just go after large gifts, but we were making calls to all parish members,” Schnieder said.
Schneider said traditionally, in Catholic fundraising campaigns, fundraisers are lucky to get 30 percent of the parish to give to their campaign. St. Thomas More had around 65 percent of the parish contribute to its campaign.
“We told people it doesn’t matter what you give, just make a gift. We want everyone’s involvement,” Adam said.
Adam said St. Thomas More, namesake of the church, is known as a man of all seasons due to his role in the Renaissance period. He maintained his morals and religious integrity amidst the political pressures of the time. The design of the new church reflects this, with floor-to-ceiling windows bringing in natural light and displaying the nature surrounding the church.
“A man for all seasons has kind of been a theme for this parish since it was founded, since this is a parish for people in all seasons of life,” Adam said.
Coralville resident Carla Kirui has been a member of the church, since 2022 and is excited for the additions to the worship space.
“It is so beautiful. I love the natural light in here — it feels like home,” Kirui said.
St. Thomas More held a dedication ceremony for the new space on Aug. 24. Schnieder said she is proud of the work that has been done to get the parish to where it is now. Having spent over five years on the project, she said it is very fulfilling to see the finished product.
“I was blown away — it was just breathtaking,” Schneider said. “It is just unbelievable to think that this space is ours.”
