|
By Priscilla Greear
LITHONIA—God’s workers at Christ Our Hope Church began
laying a new layer of bricks on the parish’s Gospel foundation, breaking
ground May 1 for the construction of a new church to better serve their
multi-cultural community.
Over 200 parishioners from the 450-family congregation
representing over 30 nationalities from the Caribbean, South America, Africa
and elsewhere turned out on the warm spring evening in support of the building
project.
The celebration began with a prayer service presided over by
Archbishop John F. Donoghue and pastor Father Paul Flood in the current church,
followed by a ground- breaking ceremony.
 If the Lord does not build the house, in
vain do its builders labor.
|
Building committee chairperson Geneva Miller began the service
asking God’s protection for the project, which will begin in May and is
expected to be complete by November.
“The work we are beginning today should enliven our faith and
make us grateful. We know the familiar words of the psalm: ‘If the Lord
does not build the house, in vain do its builders labor.’ Whenever we look
to the interests of our neighbor or the community and serve them, we are, in a
sense, God’s own co-workers,” she said. “Let us pray for his
help through this celebration...that God will bring this construction to
successful completion and that his protection will keep those who work on it
safe from injury.”
In his homily the archbishop spoke of the congregation’s joy
of knowing their needs for better facilities will be met as well as how the
communities of Southeast DeKalb County will be blessed by the project.
“For whether we are of the Catholic Church, which is our
heritage, or of a related Christian body, our public testimony and the
buildings we raise will be a sign for all men and women—a sign of our
belief that the tomorrow of our society and our culture, and indeed, the future
of our own souls, depends almost entirely upon the depth of our commitment to
Jesus Christ today.”
He spoke of the building’s spiritual foundation.
“The very mortar and blocks and wood and stones of this
church we begin building today, will no doubt have their own intrinsic beauty,
and we will see this beauty rise before our eyes in the months ahead, as is
fashioned what we will call Christ Our Hope, or the new Christ Our Hope
Catholic Church—but in the eyes of God...a greater material—a greater
strength will be seen behind the visible edifice that will rise here—the
strength that comes from the presence of the Lord, from the celebration of His
Sacraments, and from the enactment of those holy rites which unite the Lord
with His people—in this case, the dedicated, persistent, and loving people
of Christ Our Hope Parish,” he said.
He asked the Lord to bless the laborers as they build the church
not only for the parish’s spiritual benefit but also to glorify him.
Father Flood prayed for the project’s success. Singing “Lead Me,
Guide Me,” the congregation then processed out to the grassy building site
in front of the church where the archbishop sprinkled holy water. As the sun
set, parish children, including several girls in white dresses with ruffles and
bows, plunged their shovels enthusiastically into the Lithonia soil.
The 5,700-square-foot church will seat about 375 persons. The
“Hope for Tomorrow” project costs approximately $700,000. It is being
built under the supervision of Catholic Construction Services Inc., Dudley
Barrett Construction Co. is the general contractor and Warner, Summers, Ditzel,
Benefield, Ward and Associates are serving as architects.
At an outdoor dinner following the service, Miller expressed
enthusiasm for the project. As the current church has chairs, “one of the
real pleasures of building a new church is the excitement of having pews and
kneelers and all the people of the congregation are excited about having a new
facility,” she said. “I’m certainly thankful for the opportunity
to serve in this capacity. It’s a wonderful opportunity for me.
Everybody’s been so eager and excited about the place and I’ve had
wonderful support and we’ve worked beautifully together...”
The parish was founded in 1984 with 35 families. The community of
faith worshipped at Lithonia High School until 1987 when the current worship
space was built. Miller explained that as that first project had fallen short
of its financial goals the originally planned church wasn’t built and the
building intended to be a parish hall was turned into the church. A smaller
building was used as the parish hall, which in 1998 became unusable, forcing
the congregation to occasionally hold fellowship activities in the church. She
said the project is a continuation of the first one, as with the new building
the existing church will be turned into a parish hall. The former parish hall
will be demolished.
Miller said this need for gathering space drove the congregation
forward with synergy and determination. Some parishioners were concerned about
the church’s ability to complete the project but she told them that
“we’ve got a second chance to do it and this second chance is a
second blessing...My proposal to them was persistence and perseverance and (I
told them) we have new visions, new priests who are very optimistic. And this
is a very diverse community. It’s interracial. We have a very diverse
cross section of families which is even more exciting.”
“Over 90-95 percent of the families are contributing
(financially)...The commitment is there and we have new families. We’re
getting more and more new families that are coming in with the excitement of a
new church. It’s an exciting time for the community with this progress
taking place,” Miller said.
Father Flood said the project builds on the parish’s solid
foundation.
“We’re just fulfilling a dream of Father John Kieran who
was the original pastor here. We’re building on his work and the work of
Father Austin Fogarty who was the second pastor here. Austin did tremendous
work with the people here and we’re building on their work. The Gospel
(foundation) is the same. I see it as a marvelous opportunity to work with the
archdiocese. With all the new schools being built we’re just thankful that
the archdiocese has been able to help us...The archbishop has heard our little
dream and it allows us the opportunity to grow,” he said, and that former
vicar general Msgr. Peter Dora was tremendously supportive in the project
through “his efforts and confidence and encouragement and priestly
support.”
He expressed gratitude for his congregation which has stepped up
to the plate to meet the challenges and work together, while having been very
involved in outreach such as with the St. Vincent de Paul Society and
supporting a parish in Guatemala. “The people are very faithful and now
we’re happy to have our own facility to further grow our ministries we
want to develop,” he said. “The parish, they love the challenge. The
parish support has reflected Christ Our Hope and their future here for
themselves” and their children.
Founding member Tom Carroll expressed his love for the church,
wherever they’ve worshipped. “We’ve got a lot of nice people
here. They’ve changed a lot. God’s goodness is in all the people.
It’s just how you interact with them. The faces of the church have changed
but the spirit remains the same here,” he said. He agreed that as the
parish has lacked a parish hall, “it’s a positive direction for the
parish in trying to gather and become a closer knit parish community.”
Director of Religious Education Jim Sendelbach said without a
parish hall the parish was left with no place to hold adult religious education
as well as various other social and spiritual functions. “The big
advantage will be that they will have a place for adults to gather in the hall
and we can rejuvenate our religious education. That’s what really
suffered,” he said. “I’m tremendously excited about it. The
overall benefit to the parish is phenomenal.”
Parishioner Henry Montanya, from Nigeria, said that the church has
been a wonderful experience, as he has made friends, experienced new cultures
through the annual international day, where parishioners share their cultures,
and served on parish council and in other ministries. He noted the importance
of the new facility because Sunday Mass is standing room only as well as
because many Catholics in the area don’t attend but may visit a new
church. Most importantly, he said, “We have no parish hall in which to
socialize which is an integral part of the parish. The new church—we need
it.” |
