By Gretchen Keiser

A “magnificent problem” of very rapid growth in the Catholic community of Kennesaw and surrounding areas has led to the groundbreaking for a new church building that can hold over 1,000 people for Mass.

While the new St. Catherine of Siena Church will be the largest church building at the time of construction, others in the archdiocese have grown to this size by additions over the years, Father Leo Herbert, pastor, said.

Starting five years ago as a new parish of about 70 families, St. Catherine’s has grown to about 700 families since 1981 and is already ahead of projections drawn up by the parish building committee recently. “It’s just a booming area. There’s no stopping the growth,” Father Herbert said. “It’s going to be a massive church one day.”

The groundbreaking for the new church was held Sat., Oct. 4, with several hundred parishioners and children gathered under stately trees for an outdoor Mass at the 12-acre site of the new church. Archbishop Thomas Donnellan was principal celebrant of the Mass and blessed the site and turned over the customary shovelful of red Georgia clay to launch the building. The new church is scheduled to be completed next July at a cost of approximately $2.3 million, according to Bob Mero, chairman of the parish building committee.

Discussing the growth, Father Herbert said that over 100 new families registered in the parish this summer and that each weekend seven Masses are being celebrated, one in two locations at the same time. Additional help is coming to the parish from Marist priests, he said.

Bob Mero, who retired to Georgia from upstate New York, after serving as a consultant to universities on construction of music buildings, said that careful estimates of growth by the building committee led them to judge the parish would have 700 families by next summer. In fact, he said, they will probably be closer to 900 families by the time the new church is completed.

The new site is at the intersection of Ben King Road and Carrie Farms Road, in Kennesaw. In addition to the new sanctuary and a day chapel, plans include the eventual addition of a structure for education, social and administrative functions of the parish.

The design by Atlanta architect Tony Palladino of Diedrich Architects & Associates is semi-circular with a focus upon the altar, Father Herbert said.

He said he is especially pleased by the plans for the day chapel. “The chapel will be a separate building, not just an overflow room or a cry room,” he said. “It’s going to be a chapel in its own right. It’s going to have as much dignity as the main church.”

At the close of the dedication Mass he told the parish, “When you see this in its completion, it will be magnificent.”