Seismic report prompts new school for Corpus Christi

Six years ago the community at Corpus Christi Parish found out their church, school, gymnasium, and rectory were at high risk in case of a serious earthquake.

Now, the community is thrilled most of the $24.5-million bill for a new school and parish centre has been raised and construction has begun.

“I feel very blessed and heartened at how we have come together as a parish community and how, with the help of God, we have come so far in such a short period of time in realizing this dream project,” said Father Bruce-John Hamilton at a groundbreaking ceremony Feb. 2.

“It’s going to serve our whole parish community and beyond for generations to come.”

The Archdiocese of Vancouver completed a major assessment of all parish churches, schools, rectories, and other buildings in 2013 to find out how safe they would be for occupants in case of a serious earthquake. It released an Infrastructure Renewal Report outlining which structures were low risk and needed little or no work and which ones needed extensive upgrades.

See Frequently Asked Questions about the Infrastructure Renewal Report.

Principal Rosa Natola said after the assessment was complete, Corpus Christi parishioners found out they could either upgrade the 63-year-old school and aging parish centre, or they could build a new one for “slightly” higher cost. The community opted to rebuild.

“This is a booming community,” Natola told The B.C. Catholic. The parking lot is too small, teachers meet in a kitchen because the staff room was converted into a classroom, and still more families want to register their children in the school than the school has room for, she said.

The new school gives Natola fresh hope. She is looking forward to seeing an entire wing dedicated to special education (instead of just one office), a new gymnasium with more room for equipment, a large library with new technology tools, and even a daycare.

“A lot of our families want to bring their little ones here. They keep asking, so we’ll get it for them.”

Corpus Christi Parish is the first new school to be commissioned after Archbishop J. Michael Miller ordered in 2018 that high-risk structures be replaced, according to Sean Rodriguez, director of construction and property renewal for the archdiocese.

He added that other schools have also recently completed seismic retrofits: St. Thomas Aquinas Regional Secondary and Notre Dame Regional Secondary built new schools that were started before the Archbishop’s 2018 directive was given, and Immaculate Conception School in Vancouver was renovated, but not fully replaced.

Father Hamilton said the community has so far raised $17.3 million, (about 70 per cent) of their goal, thanks in large part to some forward-thinking community members.

In 2017, the parish sold a portion of its land for $13 million to help raise funds to build the new school. “It put us 15 years ahead of schedule,” Father Hamilton said.

That land, on the corner of Waverley and Clarendon Streets, may become the site of a seniors’ residence.

Construction of the new dual-stream school and parish centre is expected to take about 1 1/2 years, without disrupting regular parish activities, said Natola.

“The kids can continue to go to school and they can watch their school being built. How many people have that opportunity? This is something they are part of. Their parents built this school.”

Currently, 315 students attend Corpus Christi school; the new structure will have room for 450 students, with an additional 25 daycare spaces. 

When the new structures are up, the old ones will be torn down and converted to those coveted parking lots, said Natola.