St. Joseph Milford to dedicate new parish center Nov. 21

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
November 18, 2004

MILFORD - Discussion about building a new parish center at St. Joseph Church in Milford began about 15 years ago.

Father James Bruch, pastor at St. Joseph's, pointed out that through the years the parish had looked at various architectural plans and drawings. About three years ago, parish leaders determined it was time to give the project another serious look.

In January of 2002, a building committee made up of nine people was formed. Tom Clary stepped up to serve as chairman of the building project.

"When we put our group together, one of the first questions I asked the group was, 'Is there anyone in this room who doesn't believe this project is going to happen?' Everyone was in full agreement that it did have possibilities," noted the project chairman.

The committee's work paid off in the new $1.6 million St. Joseph Center that will be dedicated on Nov. 21 following the Annual Harvest Dinner. The event will include a blessing of the new building and an open house.

"We've come up with a very beautiful and serviceable building," noted the pastor.

Up until now, the parish has used the church basement for dinners and other large-scale gatherings.

"It was hard to access, especially if you are handicapped. It has steep steps and is not very welcoming," said Father Bruch. "The new facility is larger than the church basement. It will seat more people and is ground level with an elevator going to the church."

While the addition of the elevator provides accessibility, the church has been handicap-accessible for years thanks to a ramp. However, the pastor mentioned that the ramp is in poor condition and will most likely be removed. The elevator offers new access to the church basement.

The new parish center connects the church and the former Catholic school building, which is used by the parish for religious education classes.

"The architects matched the arches around the windows beautifully to that of the church. It looks like it was built at the same time," said Father Bruch.

New construction included a main room - about 4,500 square feet - as well as two additional classrooms for religious education classes. These were added to the north side of the existing school.

Clary pointed out that the total construction was about 10,000 square feet with the new classrooms, entranceway, hallway and remodeling. Besides the new construction, three classrooms from the religious education building were remodeled and made into office space for the pastor and parish secretary, a new kitchen and overflow space.

"St. Joseph Parish has a lot of dinners. We will be using the new space for our dinners and we have a lot of weddings up here. For next year, we already have five weddings scheduled to rent it for receptions," said the pastor.

Along with dinners and receptions, Father Bruch said the new facility will have other uses such as for youth group activities. The new center is also equipped with monitors to allow overflow crowds to view Mass. During the summer, given its Okoboji Lakes location, the parish has large Mass attendance.

All but about $300,000 to $400,000 of the new facility has been paid for. The pastor mentioned that the parish had a building fund that parishioners contributed to for a number of years and the bulk of the money was raised through a pledge campaign in the last couple of years.

Father Bruch applauded the efforts of the parishioners of St. Joseph's for making the new parish center a reality.

"They really pitched in in every area and have seen it through," he said. "And every group in the parish - the rosary altar society, the Catholic Daughters, the Knights of Columbus - have been very generous and supportive."

The pastor also extended appreciation to the building committee.

Clary pointed out that in the first six months of the project, the group met on a weekly basis. They reviewed past information, studies and architectural plans to help determine why the project had never moved forward.

"We also felt it was important to keep the information in-house until we came up with a plan," said Clary, who added that he believed what makes some projects fail is when initial plans get into the hands of many people who tear apart ideas due to selfish motives. Anyone was welcome to see the blueprints, but they had to go to the office. They did seek the input of key groups such as the religious education staff.

"We weren't going to circulate them around the parish and ask for ideas because we had been doing that for 15 years. We felt that worked to the best interest of the project and why it is a success," he said.

The building committee opted to select a local architect out of Spencer and when it came time to unveil the plans, Clary had them develop computer-generated images that would give parishioners a better visual than traditional line drawings provide. By the ninth month, these drawings were presented to the parishioners and it was determined the project was a go.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Aug. 30, 2003. Less than 15 months later, the center is complete and will be dedicated.

Clary is pleased with the finished product.

"I think it is phenomenal and it is something that has been needed for a longtime," he said. "It is something that the people of this parish will be proud of forever."

The general public is welcome to attend the dinner that is held yearly as a parish fundraiser. The parish anticipates a larger-than-normal crowd because there is interest in the Milford area community to see the new building. The dinner will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. with the dedication service planned for around 1:15 p.m. Cost of the dinner is $6 for adults and $3 for children 5 to 12. Preschoolers are free.