Cottonwood community to dedicate long-awaited church

By Andrew Junker | Dec. 3, 2009 | The Catholic Sun

COTTONWOOD — When Immaculate Conception Parish dedicates its new church Dec. 8, for some people it will be the culmination of a decades-long dream.

“It’s been like 30 years since they’ve wanted a new church here,” laughed Fr. David Kelash, pastor of the parish. But for a multitude of reasons, plans always stalled. The parish moved to its current site in 2002, and has been celebrating Mass inside a portable building.

“When I moved here in 2005, they asked to start a building fund,” Fr. Kelash said, which set the plan in motion. After a few years of feasibility studying, fundraising and building committee meetings, the church started going up about a year ago.

Based on a survey taken by parishioners, the building committee suggested that the new church be traditional in design. An anonymous donor contributed stained glass windows from a historic parish in Philadelphia that had recently been shuttered.

“The parishioners just wanted a prayerful place,” said Rita Poindexter, chair of the building committee. Part of her duties included helping with the capital campaign. Initially, the committee contacted a company to help them.

“We started the fundraising program three years ago and named the campaign ‘All Committed Together in Christ,’” Poindexter said. “We’ve probably had about a 50 percent pledge rate of people. Through that program, we raised about $3.5 million.”

All told, the new church will cost about $5.4 million, and will be able to hold 1,500 people.

“It’s huge for our little community,” Fr. Kelash said. “But Verde Valley’s supposed to grow. We have to have a 100-year plan. We decided to bite the bullet and make it large enough so future people don’t have to do it again.”

Poindexter said the wider community has been overwhelmingly supportive of the new church, and noted that the steeple can be seen from all over the valley.

“The parishioners are getting excited,” Fr. Kelash said. “I’m excited that we built a building that can glorify God and profess our love for God. It’s just nice to have a wonderful place to celebrate.”

Poindexter agreed.

“It’s a proud feeling,” she said. “We’ve got a real building now.”