DENVER — Advent’s theme of anticipation took on greater meaning for the people of Holy Spirit Parish Dec. 17, as they gathered for Mass and a special blessing for their future church.
As Mass began, soil taken from the property where the parish’s new church will be built – specifically, from the very site where the altar will be placed – was brought into the church and blessed by Father Carmen Malacari, pastor.
“It is truly special that we gather today, on Gaudete Sunday or Rejoice Sunday,” Father Malacari told the congregation. “As not only are we less than a week away from the celebration of the birth of Our Lord, but today we also celebrate the goodness that has brought our parish community to this moment where we bless the very soil which we will be building the Lord’s earthly kingdom upon.”
The Denver parish has seen unprecedented growth in the past 16 years and has already needed to move the church to a larger building once to accommodate more parishioners and higher Mass attendance. Masses are currently celebrated in a converted gymnasium next door to the original church, which now functions as parish offices.
The new church will be approximately 16,000 square feet and accommodate nearly 700 people. It will be built in an open lot adjacent to the current Parish Activity Center.
The parish looks forward to breaking ground early in the new year with site improvements. Construction is slated to begin around June.
“We have been working on this project for over 10 years, ever since we noticed and anticipated the growth in our area,” said Tommy Touchstone, chairman of the parish’s building committee. “It has been a challenge but a labor of love. We looked at many options to expand our inadequate church but to do it affordably. We even looked at two dozen alternate sites. In the end, we purchased an adjacent parcel and decided to remain in our current, highly visible location.”
Ron Geiger, a building committee member and recent fundraising chairman, credited the parish’s incredible growth as the primary impetus for the project.
During Mass on Dec. 17, Father Carmen Malacari, pastor of Holy Spirit Parish in Denver, blessed ground taken from where the parish’s new church is to be built. The parish plans to break ground for the new church (see sketch above) in the New Year, with construction slated to begin in June.“We have grown over the last 10 years from about 500 families to now nearly 1,000 families,” Geiger said. “The old church, which was a converted school building with a modest capacity of about 300, is beyond its ability to serve our needs. The cost to upkeep or expand it is cost-prohibitive, so a new place of worship was critical to meet the needs of our community. We currently are seeing attendance approaching 400 at some Masses.”
Everyone could feel the excitement during the ground blessing ceremony – and with good reason. It has been a long process to see this dream come to fruition and has required a great deal of patience and perseverance, Father Malacari and building committee leaders said. Even with skyrocketing costs of construction, inflation and delays because of the
COVID-19 pandemic, they said, the parish community has remained united and hopeful.
“In the readings we just heard, it makes us think of how the Jewish people waited centuries for liberation and salvation,” Father Malacari said during his homily. “Here, we’ve waited over 10 years. But God bless our building and planning committee, who have been more patient than Job, having to deal with all the (site evaluation and design) processes and difficulties along the way.”
“Thanks be to God that we have so many great people here in our parish that have helped to make this a reality,” he said.
The new church will be one of the first new churches designed according to updated diocesan norms for Catholic churches that emphasize traditional Catholic architecture.
“One requirement, which we were initially concerned about, is to have a liturgical architect,” Touchstone said. “This has turned out to be a blessing. We believe we may now have a design for the first really traditional Catholic church to be built in the diocese in recent memory. We are very pleased and proud of our design, which we believe will be a model or inspiration for others.”
— Spencer K.M. Brown