The Archdiocese of New York, which is slated to announce today a realignment plan that could include closing some parishes and opening new ones, is attempting to raise $200 million as part of its first major capital campaign in almost two decades.

Launched in honor of its bicentennial, the archdiocese’s campaign began eight months ago and has already brought in $90 million in pledges. About $60 million has been raised through parish fundraising drives, and $30 million by the archdiocese from major donors. Much of the money will go to general parish upkeep: repairing roofs, purchasing new boilers, and repainting church halls, a spokesman for the archdiocese, Joseph Zwilling, said.

Earlier this month, Edward Cardinal Egan announced that the diocese would sponsor museum exhibits, concerts, and lecture series during the 12-months leading up to its 200th birthday — April 8, 2008. “The thought was to do the fund raising first, to give us a chance to prioritize the needs in each parish, and then to go forth with the spiritual celebrations,” the archdiocese’s vicar for development, Bishop Gerald Walsh, told The New York Sun.

The Archdiocese of New York — which includes Manhattan, Staten Island, and the Bronx, in addition to seven suburban and upstate counties — has struggled to make ends meet in recent years. Last April, the archdiocese announced it would close nine Catholic schools.

Fund-raising goals vary by parish, and were set at approximately 175% of the previous year’s annual collection. Clergy could appeal to the board of pastors if they felt the target was set too high or too low. Of the funds raised by each parish, 80% will be earmarked for that parish, and 20% will go to the diocese’s newly established Fund for Needy Parishes, Bishop Walsh said. The campaign is taking place on a rolling basis: Some churches have completed their drive, some are in the middle of it, and some have yet to begin. Most parishes are expected to have tallied their pledges by early next summer.

The archdiocese is encouraging pastors to meet one-on-one with high-capacity donors. Some clergy members are meeting with small groups of parishioners to explain the church’s pressing financial needs, in addition to sending out direct-mail solicitations.

Parish needs vary widely, Bishop Walsh said. “Some need help maintaining their schools, while others need to refurbish their churches,” he said. “Still others want to support the work being done by its volunteers, or to expand their religious education programs for Catholic children in public schools.”

Bishop Walsh serves as pastor at St. Elizabeth Church in Washington Heights. That parish’s campaign target is $560,000, though fund raising there has not yet begun. With that money, the church will put in a new altar and expand its supplementary religious education and outreach to the homebound programs, he said.

At St. Charles Borromeo in Harlem, the church is spending about $250,000 — about half the money it plans to raise through the bicentennial campaign — to install an elevator so elderly and infirm parishioners won’t have to navigate the church’s 41 interior steps, Msgr. Wallace Harris said. “People will probably come to church more when we have an elevator,” he said. “We’ve been hoping to do this for many, many years, but haven’t been able to put the money together.” The remainder of the money that comes in will go to building maintenance, such as painting and plumbing, Msgr. Harris said.

Our Lady of Peace on the Upper East Side is slated to kick off its campaign on Tuesday, January 30, with a reception for high-capacity donors, the Reverend Bartholomew Daly said. The 89-year-old East 62nd Street church hopes to raise $230,000 by Easter, Rev. Daly said. The campaign will enable the parish restore the its art collection and its stained-glass windows — projects that would have otherwise been unaffordable, he said. “On the occasion of the bicentennial, it’s an opportunity to look at parish properties, and see how they can be improved and repaired, so that they can be passed on to the next generation,” Rev. Daly said.

An Upper West Side resident, Brian O’Dwyer, 60, said the pastor at Holy Trinity Church on West 82nd Street recently called him to solicit a campaign contribution and he immediately agreed to make a five-year pledge. “Those are the people who baptized their children, and married their children, and buried their parents,” Mr. O’Dwyer, an attorney, said of pastors’ fund-raising efforts. “They are the people we rely on for spiritual help, so it’s a very easy thing to respond to.”

As parishes step up their efforts to solicit donations, the archdiocese is expected to lay out its plan to restructure parishes under its auspices. Archdiocese sources say the plan is based on recommendations announced last March and subsequently reviewed by the Archdiocesan Realignment Advisory Panel. Among the recommendations are to add five new parishes, including one in Staten Island; closing 15 parishes, eight of which are in New York City; and changing the status of 16 diocese parishes to missions and chapels. No new school closings will be announced today, Mr. Zwilling said.