By Rose James

The parishioners of St. Jude have won the struggle to build a much-needed multi-purpose facility. The dream started 10 years ago. The need was evident. Overflow Masses were scheduled and celebrated in the basement of the church, which was not spacious enough to take in everyone. Physical activities of the students of St. Jude’s school were also conducted in the basement. Imprints of balls mark the ceiling and provide visual testimony to the limits of the basement where multiple support columns added to the hazards of free play. The new facility came about through the diligent effort and teamwork of the parishioners, guided by the very capable hands of Father Morrow, the pastor of St. Jude.

The multi-purpose facility was blessed and dedicated to the service of God’s people by Archbishop Donnellan on Sunday, Aug. 16. The event was commemorated by the concelebration of the Eucharist by priests of the parish. Archbishop Donnellan, in his homily, recalled the years of anticipation and his final agreement to the requests of the people of St. Jude for the much-needed facility. He went on to stress that we are the buildings of God--the importance being placed on the spiritual rather than the material. And the spiritual was evident at St. Jude through the long hours spent by the volunteer staff of parishioners in dealing with a myriad of decisions associated with the building of the facility.

At the offertory, parishioners brought gifts symbolic of the contribution of the people: Tony McMahan, the volunteer building committee chairman, presented the blueprints of the building; Bea Ollinger, adult education coordinator, presented the Bible, symbolic of the faith of the people; Patrick Bowen accompanied by Jerry Wilcox, the athletic coordinator of St. Jude, offered a basketball as a symbol of the physical activity to take place in the facility; the Biagi family offered a basket of food collected for the needy; the Nicpon family brought the bread and wine to be consecrated. The liturgy was planned by Roseanne Bowen and assisted by Father Louis Naughton. The folk choir was conducted by Tom Bracken. Dick Fields was the lector at the Mass, concelebrated by Fathers Morrow, Bohan and Thein, vice-chancellor Father James Micelli and the archbishop.

The art committee of St. Jude, chaired by Jan Chaput and Mary Westrick, coordinated the color choices for the interior of the building. Other members of the committee are working out details to complete four religious and four sports painting which will be used, alternately, during the Eucharist and the planned sports programs for the children and the parishioners. Lynn La Buddie, contributing skills in carpentry, built the large stretchers to be used in the paintings and will be coordinating efforts to house the paintings in mountings on the walls. A separate reception is being planned to exhibit the paintings in December.

The architectural firm, Diedright Architects, Inc. and their Project Architect, Tony Paladino, are to be commended for a beautiful design. John Smith, superintendent for Commercial Construction Co., the builder, is gratefully acknowledged as the force behind the dream, bringing all things together to a beautiful completion.

The children and adults of St. Jude’s Parish will spend many hours in the multi-purpose building learning new skills, engaging in fruitful discussions, and healing modern world tensions through physical activity in a facility built by the spirit of the people of St. Jude.