Concise Biography of Patrick Place

The notion of a comfort care home in Scottsville, NY sprung from a group of Catholic parishes that were commissioned by the Diocese of Rochester to work together in order to address pastoral planning issues regarding changing statistics in the church of our time. The group of parishes is known as Five Saints West (5SW) and is made up of St. Mary of the Assumption in Scottsville, St. Columba-St. Patrick in Caledonia, St. Vincent de Paul in Churchville and St. Christopher in North Chili. The idea originally arose from some of the details of the plan itself where building uses were being decided upon by the pastoral planning team.

This idea also sprang up from a sense within the pastoral planning process that the parishes do something together as a joint ministry of 5SW. In the past there have been efforts to come together around clothing drives and such, but nothing steady developed. Three of the parishes of 5SW are set to cluster in 2011, meaning they would be united under one leader or pastor. This venture of a comfort care home would be a collaborative effort of the four parishes that make up 5SW. Also, members of other churches have already voiced their support and we believe other volunteers in the community would step forward to help as well.

In 2008 the matter was brought to each of the parishes and a survey was conducted as to whether the parishioners thought this was a good idea. Nearly 650 responses came back from the four parishes. 520 (81%) endorsed it, about 100 (15%) expressed some doubt. and 23 (4%) rejected the idea. Feeling very positive about this result, the 5SW team assembled an exploratory committee formed from all the parishes which would delve further into the question of necessity, feasibility and the viability of the rectory at St. Mary's where the home would be located.

From 2008 to 2009 a great deal of work was done. Health care agencies affirmed the need, engineers and architects examined the building and found no major obstacles, a potential name was decided upon and the exploratory committee determined that it was indeed a feasible project for the parishes to take on. Presentations were made to each of the parish councils and they all gave unanimous support to the new entity - Patrick Place - a name that honors the Church of St. Patrick in Mumford that was closed a number of years ago.

Money is always a concern in matters like this. The expectation is that $175,000 is needed for renovations - most of which would hopefully come from grants, but there will be other ongoing fundraising efforts and hopes of bequests forthcoming. It is then expected that the annual operating budget needed would be around $140,000.

To make Patrick Place function well we will need at least 70 volunteers and hopefully 100 as a true base. This project has also found support in the wider community and we plan to continue to grow this support among various other denominations and volunteer organizations.