|
By Jessica Selby
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
It has been a long awaited transformation, but parishioners and others will finally get to see the big reveal this weekend when SS. John and Paul Church opens it doors to the new parish center and other improvements.
Construction crews broke ground on the multimillion dollar project back in July of 07 and have been working feverishly battling weather changes, ordinances, and other unforeseen roadblocks since then, according to The Rev. Paul Grenon, pastor of SS John and Paul Church.
Although the extent of the work may have been trying on people’s patients, Grenon said that he expects that once people see the finished work, it will all be forgotten.
“There was definitely a lot of questions along the way, people would say ‘it seems to be taking a long time,’ and there were a lot of hang ups, but there was always the hope of the light at the end of the tunnel, and now that we are there, I am very pleased with the finished results and I can definitely see the endless amount of advantages that we will have to this new improved space,” Grenon said.
Grenon was able to list off an infinite number of examples of how the new space will better service the parishioners and others who visit the church.
He said that the new main entryway into the church will allocate more gathering space for special occasions like Palm Sunday celebrations and weddings.
“When we had weddings here before the bride and her wedding party would have to sit in the limo until everyone had come in and sat down inside the church because there was no area for them to come into the church to wait. Now we have this huge space where they can come in and do what ever they need still allowing guests to walk in without even interrupting them,” he said. “We also have plans for using this space for Palm Sunday in ways that we never would have been able to do before because we didn’t have the roof over our heads and the wind would have been blowing everything all over the place. Now we don’t have to worry about that at all.”
Another highly anticipated feature of the renovations was the new, enlarged restroom facilities. Prior to the improvements, the largest parish in the Diocese of Providence, serving 4,700 families, which Grenon said roughly breaks down to about 15,400 people, only offered a single public toilet located at the rear of the sanctuary for facilities. The new restrooms are located off of the “gallery” and are modern, handicapped accessible and plentiful!
The three priests that service SS. John and Paul Church also received a new Sacristy space. Prior to the new construction, the priests basically had a closet located in the back of the church to change, gather their thoughts and keep their belongings prior to celebrating mass.
Now in the much more modern and spacious area the three priests as well as altar servers, and extraordinary ministers can gather for a more formal processional at the start of each Mass. They each also have now their own individual closet space, drawers for keeping belongings, a private bathroom and kitchen area.
One of the more eye catching improvements is the installation of the custom designed stained glass windows located at various points inside the new space. Grenon said that the artists hired to do the work crated their own ideas and that they were greatly welcomed by the parish community.
“We only asked that they incorporate certain memorial windows that were part of the churches original construction and then they did the rest and we feel they turned out just beautifully,” Grenon said. “When they first brought them in we said don’t change a thing, we love it.”
There is also the addition of the prayer garden, located in the outdoor courtyard. This area is already landscaped with a row of rose bushes and other ornamental shrubs. There is a statue of the Blessed Mother which stands at the center of the garden and an old church bell that had been found inside the church prior to construction that are now features inside the garden.
It was only after the church had the bell sandblasted that its beauty was truly revealed, Grenon said. Now the bell, which had been lost amongst other storage at the church for years, stands prominently on display in one corner of the courtyard.
Despite the many advantages of all of these improvements, Grenon said that the highlight of the renovation is the construction of the church’s new parish center.
“All we had before to use for gatherings was the little barn that sat off to the side of the church, and it was lovingly referred to that because that is what it originally was,” Grenon said. “The barn could only accommodate maybe 120 people if that and now, our new space can fit 600 people but I think more like 325 if tables are set up.”
The parish center, Grenon said, will be multipurpose. It will serve as an overflow area for when the church hosts special service or has an extremely large funeral, he said.
“Whenever we had things like this before we have had to go elsewhere, but now we will be equipped to accommodate all of those people right away,” Grenon said.
The other highly thought out feature of the new parish center is the installation of the two 58 inch flat screen televisions which have been mounted to the wall. The televisions have been wired to feed camera footage from inside the naïve of the church so that overflow crowds who can not be accommodated the 725 seat capacity church can still hear and see the mass inside the parish center.
Any and all of the new improvements made at SS. John and Paul church were done so only with much time staking thought and effort, Grenon said. He said that the parishioners and the building committee were asked regularly long before the actual work begun on ideas and opinions for improvements and that, he said, is what he thinks helped to make the finished results as “absolutely wonderful” as they are.
The entire project costs the parish $3.8 million. Grenon said that that includes all of the sight work, landscaping, new furniture, other amenities and building construction.
He said that the parish reserves were tapped to support the project because fundraising efforts did not meet the church’s expectations for funding the project and he said that because of that more fund raising will also need to continue to support the project.
While there are still a few last minute touch ups that need to be completed, the church is planning a grand reveal celebration of the new and improved church this weekend. Grenon said that he encourages everyone form the community to come to one of the masses and then stay to tour the new facility. The entire space will be open for viewing by all who are interested he said.
There is a mass on Saturday evening at 5 p.m., on Sunday morning at 7, 8:30, 10, and 11:30 a.m. as well as a 6 p.m. mass on Sunday evening.
The church is located at 341 South Main Street in Coventry.
|
