Parish hopes to raise $5.1 M to expand St. Pat's
Published on September 27th, 2000
STONEHAM, MA - Saint Patrick Parish, Stone-ham has embarked upon a capital campaign to raise $5.1 million for a building project that will double the seating capacity of the church and construct a parish center with an auditorium, meeting rooms and offices for parish activities. This is the first building project undertaken by Saint Patrick Parish since the building of the "new school" in 1955.
Saint Patrick Church was built in 1888 at the cost of $35,000 which was raised through the hard work and sacrifice of a relatively small Catholic community in the town of Stoneham. Saint Patrick Parish would have also included the Catholics of Wakefield, Melrose, Reading and North Reading among its earliest parishioners. The church that was constructed in 1888 has served many generations of Saint Patrick parishioners, but now it is just too small to provide for the needs of a parish with 4,700 registered families, making Saint Patrick one of the largest parishes in the State of Massachusetts. The current schedule of nine Sunday Masses provides for the needs of the 3,400 parishioners who worship at Saint Patrick Church each weekend, but the increasing shortage of parish priests will make it impossible for that number of Masses to be celebrated each week by the one or two priests assigned to Saint Patrick Parish in the coming years.
The plan for the enlargement of the church maintains the integrity of the design and decoration of the present church, maintaining a strong sense of community, while expanding the seating capacity of the church from 550 to 1,100 persons. The brilliant architectural plan has been formulated by Mr. Angelo Petrozelli of Haverhill who most recently designed the new Saint Michael's Church in North Andover. A scale model of the enlarged church and new parish center is on display in Saint Patrick's upper church. The scale model reflects the careful attention of the architect to blend the new with the old so that it is difficult to discern where the old building ends and the new building begins. The new building will be a striking addition to the ongoing renewal of Stoneham Center.
Saint Patrick Parish has recognized its need for a parish hall and meeting rooms for the past 40 years. It is a challenge for a large, vibrant parish to function without a large gathering space, as well as sufficient smaller meeting spaces. The new parish center will allow 300 persons to be seated at round tables in the new gym/auditorium, while 500 persons can be seated auditorium-style for Masses and parish meetings, and social events.
The entire complex of the enlarged church and parish center will be fully air-conditioned and a hospital size elevator will make all sections of the church, parish hall and new school fully accessible to handicapped persons and elderly parishioners.
Saint Patrick Parish, like all 380 parishes of the Archdiocese of Boston must raise all the funds for its parish building needs. Therefore a capital campaign committee has contacted all the registered parish families to solicit their support in three-year pledges that will assist Saint Patrick Parish in providing for the present and future needs of the parish well into the 21st century.
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