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Longmont parish breaks ground for new church
By Julie Filby
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Photo by Yvonne Greenwald: |
St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Longmont is building a new church to help meet the needs of the growing number of Catholics in the city of 86,000 residents.
“The population has been growing for many years,” said Father Frank Maroney, pastor at St. Francis of Assisi for seven years.
“There are roughly 15,000 to 20,000 Catholics in the area … and there have only been one-and-a-half churches to serve them.”
The worship space for the parish of 500 families—which Father Maroney jokingly referred to as a “half church”—has been a leased office space at 2410 Trade Centre Ave. the last four years. The city’s other Catholic church is St. John the Baptist at 323 Collyer St.
“The office complex doesn’t look like a church from the outside at all so it throws people off who are looking for it,” he said.
“But we made the best worship space we could, in the space we had.”
The current church seats 300 people, and about 700 attend the four weekend Masses. The new 18,000-square-foot facility, on 14 acres at the southwest corner of Airport and Pike roads, will seat 425 and include a narthex, seven classrooms, staff offices, and a parish hall with a kitchen.
“One of the main reasons we left the (Westview) Presbyterian Church (in 2007) was to start this process of building a church,” said Father Maroney. “We were running out of time and spaces at that facility that we were sharing.”
The new building will not only provide more room for Mass and sacraments, but also for classes, activities, programs and outreach. One of the activities that Father Maroney described as going “great guns” at St. Francis is Bible study.
“We started the Great Adventure Bible Timeline last fall and people love it,” he said.
Approximately 200 people have participated in the popular Bible study series since it started at the parish.
With the addition of a commercial kitchen, the parish will also be able to prepare meals and host wedding receptions. Long-term plans include expanding the church to seat up to 1,000 people.
“The new building will help alleviate crowding … and provide room for future growth,” he said.
On Sept. 3, 125 parishioners and supporters—including Father Ron Weissbeck, pastor of St. John the Baptist Parish; and Alex Sammoury, Longmont city councilman and St. John the Baptist parishioner—gathered for a ceremonial groundbreaking. Bishop James D. Conley, apostolic administrator of the Denver Archdiocese, presided over the ceremony, along with Father Maroney.
“It was wonderful,” said Father Maroney. “Bishop Conley led us in prayer and gave a nice homily about building a church made of ‘the people’ … and sacred space in order for us to grow in our faith and worship of God.”
Bishop Conley also highlighted the legacy of St. Francis of Assisi, known to have received a message from Christ to “go out and build up my house.”
“The legacy of St. Francis of Assisi was to rebuild the Church,” said Father Maroney, “but not just the building—to build from the inside-out, in the hearts of the people and return them to God.”
Construction is expected to begin in the next two weeks pending final approval of city permits, and be completed in 10-12 months. Eidos Architects of Greenwood Village is the architect and Krische Construction Inc. of Longmont will provide general contractor services.
The parish is three years into its capital campaign to raise $5.5 million for the building. To date they have raised $1.8 million and another $530,000 in outstanding pledges.
“Considering the economic downturn we’ve done remarkably well raising money,” said Father Maroney.
To support the capital campaign, visit www.saintfrancislongmont.org or call 303-772-6322.
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