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New Church
Ida Grove parish breaks ground

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
(Email Renee)

With the scoop of shovels, ground was broken on July 4 for a new church at Sacred Heart Parish in Ida Grove.
For parishioner David Forbes, lay director, the groundbreaking ceremony served as a visible sign that the long awaited project was becoming a reality.

“It was great – a little rainy but rain in July is always welcome by the farmers,” he said. “It was a sign that the project was moving forward and I think the rain was God’s sign that he was showering his blessings on us.”

According to the pastor, Father David Hemann, the $3 million project includes both a church and parish hall. He pointed out that discussion began about building a new church in Ida Grove years ago. Father Hemann recalled how in 2001 Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, who was then bishop of Sioux City, spoke to him about his next assignment.

“He said, ‘I don’t have any big parishes opening up or anything, but I have a big assignment for you. I want you to go down to Ida Grove, take your troubadour spirit and build a new church,’” said Father Hemann.

The priest added that several years prior to that, before his time in the parish, requests had been made to remodel the church but those were turned down because the diocese felt they shouldn’t put much money into a building that needed so much work.

When he had received the official parish assignment, Father Hemann said he asked God how he should approach it. The Lord told him to go build up the people through his priestly ministry and then the church would follow.

In time, the vast majority of the parishioners were on-board with the project but not all.

“Let’s face it, people don’t want to say goodbye to a church that they were baptized in and married in,” he said.

Keeping gems
Soon, an image of an old tarnished ring with beautiful gems came to him. That’s when he came up with the concept of Diamonds in a New Setting.

“We went and identified all of the diamonds in the new church – to name a few – the main altar, windows, the Stations of the Cross and certain pieces of woodwork. We are really going to use many things from the present church and will retain a lot of its beauty,” said Father Hemann, who stressed that fact that the current church is beautiful but has structural flaws such as bowing out walls.

Peter Goldsmith, chair of the building committee, said many people were pleased with the concept of using items from the old church in the new and that helped bring greater support to the project.

Diamonds in a New Setting was used as the theme for the capital campaign that kicked off in 2006. They may have started that earlier had the diocese not been a vacant see, without a bishop, for about two years. The parish had one three-year campaign and began a second one a year ago.

With the parish having 240 families, Father Hemann said he is awed by their generosity.

“They have been giving money to a phantom church that they haven’t seen, so it was very important to break ground,” he said.

The groundbreaking ceremony began with a procession following Mass from the present church to the place where the new church will be built, which is southwest of the present structure. They sang the psalm related to going joyfully up to the house of the Lord.

Father Hemann offered a prayer from the Book of Blessings, blessing the ground before four took up shovels in the ceremonial breaking of the ground. The pastor was then joined by the two lay directors – Forbes and John Kallin – as well as Goldsmith. They called on others to overturn dirt for the occasion, including Ray Drey who did so in remembrance of the late Ed Bengford. Bengford, the former long-time parish director, is the honorary chairperson for the building project.

Goldsmith remembered that they had gone to the bishop years ago about making updates to the church, but those were declined because the diocesan leaders felt they needed a new church.

“There are a lot of people in the parish who have been working on this for a long time,” he said. “The new church is really for the kids and for the future. You build a church for the future and not for yourselves.”

New church needed
Goldsmith pointed out that they took a survey in the parish years ago and the vast majority of parishioners agreed that they needed a new church and hall. Plus, two architectural surveys reinforced the need for a new building.

Forbes was one who saw the need for the new church and said he was pleased with the plans for the new church and hall.

“We needed both badly,” he said. “It’s a big chunk to bite off at one time but I think it’s best we are doing them together. I don’t think we could have done one without the other.”

Through this project, he witnessed how the parishioners came together to reach a common goal. He referred to stewardship and the use of one’s time, talent and treasure.

“We’ve had people contribute tons of each one,” Goldsmith said. “So many people have put in so much time and then we have discovered so much talent in the parish whether it is finances or construction knowledge. I didn’t know we had all these people who knew all these things.”

He added that the parishioners have also been very generous with their treasure.

Lenee Sinnott, a Sacred Heart parishioner for 40-plus years, said she is really excited about the new church.

“It’s a whole new phase for our parish. We need it so badly because our old church is getting old, it’s not handicap-accessible and it needs a lot of repairs. It’s desperately needed,” she said. “It will be a beautiful new church and I think it will really reflect our parish.”

Father Hemann pointed out that he sought much guidance from Father Brian Hughes, a priest of the diocese with architectural expertise, concerning the church design which will be a cruciform. The overall structure will be L-shaped with the parish hall connecting to the church.

“For the church itself, we really wanted a nice Romanesque church. We spent hundreds and hundreds of hours with the building committee people and subcommittees to work on the various elements from musical to mechanical, the hall, building and grounds,” he said. “There was a lot of input from many parishioners.”

The pastor noted that one of the unique features of the church will be 10 pillars that will have the 10 Commandments, enabling them to have a 10 Commandment Walk that ends at the confessional. The new church will feature a prayer chapel of adoration behind the main altar and have a multi-purpose hearth room that can be used as a bride’s room, mourners’ room or a general meeting area.

The left transept will feature a little chapel housing a year-round Nativity set and the right transept will feature the resurrected Christ. The crucifix will be above the main altar.

“So we will have the birth, death and resurrection – the paschal mystery will be displayed,” Father Hemann said. “We purposely designed the church so that there are little nooks and crannies for prayer, solitude and space. We want it to be a place where people can encounter God – where heaven meets earth.”

Construction is slated to begin soon with estimates of completion at 12 to 16 months.