OUR NEED FOR NEW WORSHIP SPACE

healing mass For many months, a planning committee surveyed the parish community, reviewed demographics, worked with church organizations, and consulted the Diocese to develop a facilities plan that will effectively meet the immediate and foreseeable needs of Our Lady of the Snows Parish.

We are challenged to provide a worship space that will not only serve our growing parish needs and programs, but also will attract new parishioners and activities and nourish them in faith. We need to build a new Church large enough to accommodate present and future parishioners and to provide a larger setting for Mass, baptism, weddings, funerals and for all the liturgical activities.

1948 photo of chapel What it comes down to is this: The original church, built in 1948 as a temporary structure, has deteriorated. The Human Concerns Center, one of our premier ministries, housed in this building, can benefit from a larger area to maintain and enhance all its programs. Our growth is straining our current church building, originally built fifty years ago in 1953 as an auditorium. As we celebrate the new millennium we are challenged to provide a church to accommodate our parishioners. The need is even more profound due to the declining number of priests in our diocese providing ministry in our parishes.

This new church will essentially accommodate the primary purpose for which we exist as a parish: the worship of Almighty God through the liturgy and the celebration of the sacraments. From our success in meeting this mission, we can expect to enjoy the promised fruits of fellowship and service.

1953: construction starts on parish hall

We have the ability to form the stories our children will tell as they grow older about what it was like to grow up Catholic. We are forming these to be life giving and growth filled stories of spirituality and community experiences. We have the opportunity to provide for our children a place where they too can celebrate, gather, ponder, and share in the celebration of the Eucharist.

photo of current OLS church After assessing our needs, evaluating our options, taking stock of our resources and projecting what the future holds, we have developed a plan to address our current needs and to provide for Catholic parish life in our area for the generations which will follow us.

As we enhance our parish, we look forward to the future and to the Catholics who will succeed us here and who will worship in a church that was inspired by our faith and built by our sacrifices. The Church is an organism that can never die, and each succeeding generation must take its place and accept its task in the on-going life which was given by Jesus and which we share with His apostles.

The task that falls to us in our time and in this place is to build a church and return the current church to its original purpose. Let us take it up with joy and determination, as a privilege of which we are unworthy, and as a means of giving glory to God who has given so much to us. What, after all, can we ever do, what sacrifice can we ever make, which would balance the love of God for us or repay His blessings to us? Let us give thanks for this opportunity "to provide a house for the Lord."