Church Building Project

Church Building

"This is the Church that Love Built"

Welcome to the web page for our Church Building Project. This project has been a labor of love for hundreds of households in the parish, and though it was slow to take shape, it is producing a beautiful result.

We say it is producing, because even though the building is now completed, we are still all working together to pay off the mortgage. Needless to say, on a large project such as this one, it takes broad participation for success to be achieved. There were many phases to this project, and the process has been underway since late in 2001.

Phase I: Needs Assessment

Deb Campeau, one of the parish's leading "movers and shakers" hosted a series of discussions entitled "2001, A Space Odyssey."

The parish was growing, and had surpassed the 1,000 family mark. We knew we had space issues, and our Pastor had the forsight to begin laying a foundation for a major expansion project. From the very beginning, Father Lathem insisted that the project be driven by the needs and wants of the parishioners, and Deb did an excellent job of soliciting and organizing comments from those who attended the town hall style meetings.

In no time, a list of needs began to emerge, and it was clear that there was a strong consensus on a few of the needs. Among these were:

Expanded seating
Updated restroom facilities
A gathering space outside of the sanctuary
Improved access to members with mobility challenges
Expanded Parking spaces, including more handicap spaces.
Additional Storage Space
A priest sacristy separate from the "work" sacristy
An improved sound system

In addition to these major needs,there were a host of other considerations that were smaller, but were near and dear to the hearts of some parishioners. The task of addressing all these diverse needs seemed an impossibility. Nevertheless, from this wire frame, we began to work toward a design that would address as many of the needs as possible.

Phase II: Design

After listening carefully to the comments from the congregation, We handed the list of needs and wants to the design team from Stubbs, Muldrow, Herin Architects. One of the first steps they took was to conduct a design Charrette, a day-long session which involved lots of scribbling, discussion, and crumpled paper. throughout the the day, many parishioners stopped in and reviewed the in-progress drawings, chatted with the architects, and gave more feedback. At the end of the day we had a large gathering, and the architects presented the initial design drawing for the church building project. As you can see from the image below, it contained many of the needed elements, but looked very different from the building we have today. Note that the gathering area was a circular space, and the handicap ramp was a curved ramp next to the baptismal font.

This initial drawing marked the beginning of a long series of changes and modifications that would eventually lead us to the actual Church Building Project.

To be Continued...

Home Page > Church Building Project