New spirituality center creates church campus for St. Rose

By Ambria Hammel | Aug. 6, 2009 | The Catholic Sun

ANTHEM — More than 1,000 Catholic families throughout the far north Valley are eagerly awaiting the start of the vigil Mass this Saturday.

It will mark the first weekend liturgy to ever be offered on church grounds. The Aug. 8 “transition Mass” at St. Rose Philippine Duchesne will start in a nearby public school’s multipurpose room and end in its brand new, $3 million spirituality center on parish property.

“There’s just a great excitement and an energy,” said Fr. Mark Harrington, pastor, of moving out of its rented space at Gavilan Peak School. “There’s nothing like having your own home to worship in.”

That’s something the growing parish has been without since it was established nearly five years ago. Parishioners have devoted more than an hour before weekend liturgies transforming the school’s multipurpose room into a Catholic worship space.

They’ve also shuffled meeting space for the parish’s 48 ministries among parishioner homes, the parish office and Gavilan Peak School.

“We built a community first and then we put up a structure,” Fr. Harrington said.

The new structure — which was built in seven months following a series of open forums and three years of fundraising — will further foster and grow the St. Rose community.

While the religious education classes will continue to meet at the school, all other parish functions and Masses will move to the new spirituality center.

“Everybody has been very surprised how church-like it looks,” said Frank Kacmarsky, who was on the initial capital campaign committee.

He gave parishioners who worked on the capital campaign a sneak peek of the 12,000-square-foot facility July 17. A steady stream of parishioners and neighbors toured the center during a three-hour open house July 26.

The spirituality center has a mission-like exterior with a simple cross on top toward the front. Small arch designs along the sidewalls form a shaded outdoor hallway.

Inside two sets of double glass doors sit 450 new chairs and space for another 150. That will relieve overcrowding at current Masses and make room for the projected wave of new parishioners. 

Many parish leaders think families within St. Rose boundaries who have worshipped elsewhere for the last several years will return now that the property has a churchlike feel to it. Fourteen families registered at the parish during the open house.

Kacmarsky, who more recently worked with the decoration committee, helped design the altar. It’s made of cherry wood and has hints of a California mission and Gothic design.

He also helped bring the altar’s focal point, the crucifix, to Anthem. Kacmarsky spotted the hand-carved and painted crucifix while vacationing in New Mexico and brought it to St. Rose.

The spirituality center has niches of various sizes along the front wall. A relic of St. Rose and another of the Good Shepherd will stand to each side of the altar. A “tree of life” dedicated to children who were stillborn or died as infants or toddlers will stand next to the St. Rose relic.

Smaller niches behind the altar will house imported statues of Mary and Joseph. The center’s floor features beige tiles of various sizes. All were imported from Italy.

Kacmarsky said the center “has a very warm feel to it.”

That welcoming feel is important because the spirituality center will have multiple uses for the next several years as parishioners raise funds for a permanent church.

The building is designed so that parishioners can partition off the altar and turn the room 90 degrees to make it a fully functioning parish hall.

Deacon Bill Clower said the center is already booked for the coming year.

Parish leaders plan to hold various meetings, junior high ministry events, occasional community events and daily Mass in the spirituality center. Each event organizer will have access to a full-size kitchen on-site that features a pass through window for outdoor events.

“They just can’t quit smiling,” Deacon Clower said every time he shows parishioners the new space.

The spirituality center makes St. Rose parishioners among the first in Anthem, an 11-year-old community, to have permanent worship space.

St. Rose’s master plan calls for a permanent church seating 1,600 people, an elementary and preschool, meeting rooms and an outdoor stage area on its 24-acre campus.