By Joe Winter
Catholic Herald correspondent

Work begins in Hudson on parish project

HUDSON -- Earth moving has begun, and a groundbreaking was held on Sunday, Oct. 28 for the $3.7 million parish education center and school renovation project for St. Patrick Parish.

The center will form the new southeast wing of the renovated St. Patrick School, serving children from preschool through eighth grade. A growing space crunch will be solved by the center, which will serve the parish with a variety of different uses, officials said.

The "Building the Faith" ground blessing/breaking celebration featured about a dozen songs by the Praise Company and children's choirs, and turning of shovels of dirt brought into the school gymnasium, where the entire event was held. A ribbon cutting was done by three of the oldest members of the parish who graduated from the school. Past members of the building and fund-raising committees were recognized.

At the end of a blessing ceremony, Fr. Peter Szleszinski, pastor, sprinkled holy water over the entire gymnasium, then walked out the east door next to the cafeteria and also blessed the grounds of the future addition, marked by freshly moved earth.

"It's been a long time in coming, so it's good to see things moving now. This new center is something our parish really needs," Szleszinski said, adding the people who participated in the project are the important thing. Future generations will say, "This is a wonderful place you have built for us," he added.

Emcee John Knutson said of him, "Peter is the Rock" on which the parish relied for two building projects, first the new church in 1995 and now the parish education center. Special thanks also were given to Principal Pat Brandner.

Mayor Jack Breault also addressed the full house, saying that he graduated from the school in 1946, "and I have a lot of love in my heart for St. Pat's."

In the days before the groundbreaking, excavation began and likely will later include the razing of a house just to the east. The former convent building between the house and part of the school playground earlier was moved off the site to a location several miles away.

The groundbreaking was a celebration of the dedication of many people, from those who sorted out the various construction and usage options, to those who worked with the loan process, to the members of many committees, said Maribeth Mataya, a member of the parish strategic planning group.

She said that every parish committee was involved in the process. For example, the home and school association and religious education committee joined forces to plan the groundbreaking ceremony.

The arts and environment committee took charge of the planned stacking of "milk carton bricks" in one new section to tell peoples' stories of faith building.

Officials said the project evolved from a building addition to a full-fledged parish center, and that it would be a misconception to call it just a school facility. "We are excited for the plans on all fronts," Mataya said.

Over the past decade, the number of students at the school has been steadily rising, leading to a crunch in facilities at the 50-year-old school building on the corner of Fourth and St. Croix streets.

The need for new classrooms has been so acute that the kindergarten preparation classes are presently in the church building. However, it also has seen overbooking, with approximately 6,000 members of the parish using it for religious education, choir practices, meetings and other purposes.

The center will include eight new classrooms, cafeteria/multipurpose room, computer center, library-media center and art and music room. The school will use these facilities during the day, and during the evenings and weekends, the parish will use them for the religious formation program, retreats, adult religious and parenting education, meetings, and social events, among other things.

Brandner said, "The new facilities will allow us to offer continuing education opportunities of all kinds to our parish community, and in particular, to our senior citizens. Besides those dedicated to faith and spirituality, we are envisioning such things as computer and Internet use classes, music lessons, and foreign language conversation groups. We hope that activities like these will help us build a more cohesive community as parishioners meet and get to know each other at the center."

In the school renovation, the administrative offices will be moved to the front entrance with visibility wells to provide greater school security. The former offices will be transformed into a chapel. Almost $1 million has already been raised or pledged by parishioners for the capital campaign.

The parish will soon begin a major gifts campaign initiative, seeking large donors to sponsor rooms in the center as memorials to beloved faith-builders in their lives. At the same time, the parish will approach corporations and foundations for capital grants. In January, a challenge will be kicked off, inviting parishioners to raise the remaining funds.

These efforts aim to erase the remaining $1.2 million church debt so the parish could focus more on work with endowments, officials said.

Darlene Tennant has joined the staff as parish development officer and school bookkeeper. She will track donations and pledges to the capital campaign and coordinate parish development efforts.

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© Superior Catholic Herald, 2001