St. Paul's parishioner Dominic Fiore (second from left) is hopeful the new parish church will be ready for Christmas 2018. (Agnieszka Krawczynski / The B.C. Catholic)
RICHMOND—Things are getting too tight at St. Paul's Church, says pastor Msgr. Dennis Luterbach. The parish hosts six Masses every weekend, and at five of them there is standing room only.
“The current church holds just over 500 people, and we have 3,500 to 3,600 coming on the weekend,” he told The B.C. Catholic.
Plans are under way to build a new church for a vibrant community bursting at the seams. On Oct. 5 Msgr. Luterbach and project consultant Dominic Fiore signed a construction contract with an architect, a contractor, and an archdiocesan representative.
“The parish is growing so fast,” said Fiore, a member of St. Paul’s. He said the new church will seat 960 people, nearly doubling the capacity of the old building.
The whole project will cost about $14.8 million. According to Msgr. Luterbach, that includes buying a new home for religious sisters whose old convent was displaced by plans for the new church building.
Fiore said the parish community has done well with fundraising efforts so far, promoting Project Advance, encouraging monthly donations, and hosting fundraisers including a recent dinner and dance that collected $15,000.
“My guess is, the way it’s going now, we’ll have this church paid for in less than the 14 years they give us.”
Fiore added that a lot of work has been done to ensure the stability of the new church in the case of a serious earthquake. It’s a big concern in Richmond, a city built on a river delta.
“We think that church won’t budge,” he said. “It would be a sanctuary if, God forbid, there ever was an earthquake.”
The optimistic Fiore hopes to see the new church ready by Christmas in 2018.