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Johnstown church adds parish hall
By John Gleason
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Photos James Baca/DCR |
On Sunday afternoon, the community of St. John the Baptist in Johnstown, located some 50 miles north of Denver, gathered to witness the blessing of a new addition to their parish: a multipurpose room called Holy Rosary Hall.
The 900-square-foot hall will hold overflow during Mass, provide meeting area space and house the new parish food distribution ministry.
The structure, which replaced a dilapidated storage shed, was blessed by the pastor, Father Emilio Franchomme, on Aug. 28. The blessing was celebrated with a parish picnic.
The project was a long time in the making, according to business manager Mary Raker.
“We’ve been talking about this for more than three years,” she told the Denver Catholic Register. “The old building was little more than a garage and was packed to the rafters with anything that would fit in there. It wasn’t in good condition; in fact it was falling down around us.”
In April parish volunteers emptied out the shed and began to tear it down. Once the ground had been cleared construction began on the new structure by American Paint & Remodel of Milliken. The $48,000 project was finished by the end of July. In addition to the multipurpose room, it includes kitchen facilities, handicap-accessible restrooms and a storage area.
“This has been a great thing for the parish,” Raker said. “Some of our older parishioners have had difficulty negotiating the stairs either up to the church for Mass, or down to the church basement where we’d hold meetings. Now it’s all on one level and everything from parish council to the dinners sponsored by the Knights of Columbus are accessible to all. And it will be a big help on Sundays for our overflow crowd.”
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The new $48,000 Holy Rosary Hall for St. John the Baptist Church will hold overflow during Masses, provide meeting space and house a new parish food distribution ministry. |
“It may not be very big, but we’re calling it our little miracle,” he said, “and it will help us with our new ministry as well.”
The new ministry is St. John the Baptist Catholic Church Food Bank, which begins operation Sept. 7. Father Franchomme said the Knights of Columbus spearheaded the idea, wanting to bring assistance to the less fortunate in the area.
“We have a similar project at St. Nicholas Parish in Platteville,” the priest said. “Both parishes are working with county officials to distribute food.”
The project operates on the generosity of the community—donations of money and non-perishable food—and is run in partnership with the Weld Food Bank of Greeley. Hours of operation are 1:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays. Information on emergency assistance is available by calling 970-584-
6025.
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