Dear Community of Saint Joseph’s:

 

     Are we ever going to get the Inclinator?

 

                                    Where is the Inclinator?

 

                         When are we getting the Inclinator?

 

Before coming to Saint Joseph’s I had never heard of such a thing as Inclinator.  But it has become a regular instrument in my daily vocabulary since my arrival!  If you are new to the Catholic Community of Saint Joseph’s, you may be wondering just what is an Inclinator and why are we discussing it now?  If you have been here for a while and perhaps even donated to the project you may be one of the voices asking when and where will this vehicle appear?

 

Well, where shall I begin……..?  

 

Saint Joseph’s has an extremely dynamic ministry to people with disabilities.  The model created for this ministry by Gay Pollock has been imitated and admired by people from all over the country.  This in-house ministry provides us with an excellent daily reminder of the need to be sensitive to people with special needs.  As you can see Saint Joseph’s has a built in challenge in the design of our parking lot: there is a limited amount of parking on the street level and the majority of our parking is behind the church on a lower lever.  To park down below and navigate the stairs provides a significant challenge for many members and guests to our community.  So after analyzing the problem, it was decided some years ago to have a custom designed funicular (see small cable car) that would function on weekends and enable people daunted or challenged by the stairs to access the church building with ease. 

 

However, this device has to be custom designed for our landscape and there has only been one company found that can create what the parish is looking for.  Also there is the matter of ADA requirements which must also be factored into the design and alongside all those complications, we must also acquire local Planning Board approval.  All of this is to explain that the design and installation of the Inclinator is a challenging task and is being worked on diligently by members of our parish Building Committee. 

 

In my experience the best projects do take considerable time to design and troubleshoot so that when they are finally built, they function carefree.  However, the waiting can be frustrating when you have donated to a project and expect to see it happen quickly.   So I am asking for your patience as we continue to slog through the details of designing and presenting to Saint Joseph’s the best and most elegant solution to our challenging physical structure. 

 

Ultimately our goal is to provide the easiest access possible for all the members of the body of Christ as we celebrate the goodness of God Sunday after Sunday, day after day, breath by breath.

 

 

Father Matt Pennington

Pastor