Photos by J.D. Long-Garía/CATHOLIC SUN

With the exterior of the church built (above), St. Margaret Mary Parish in Bullhead City will begin work on the interior this month. Fr. Peter Dobrowski (below), the parish pastor, explains what the finished church will look like near the altar (bottom) during a Jan. 24 tour.

New Bullhead City church set to open in November

BULLHEAD CITY — Driving north on state Route 95, you can’t miss the new church for St. Margaret Mary Parish. With an 80-foot bell tower, it’s the tallest building in the city.

In fact, the parish had to get special permission from the city council because the new church exceeds height restrictions.

Not only that, but it’s also out on a plateau looking down on the city, as if calling residents to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. But what stands out most, what you can’t miss, is that St. Margaret Mary is a Catholic church.

“It had to be Catholic inside and out.” That’s what parishioners told Fr. Peter Dobrowski, the pastor. It practically became a mantra over the years. The community has been working on erecting the new church since 1992.

“It gorgeous,” said Christine Belkowski, having taken a tour of the unfinished structure Jan. 24.
“It’s going to be a magnificent church to worship in.”

The mission-inspired church, designed by architect Duncan G. Stroik, a professor at the University of Notre Dame, is done in a baroque style with translucent windows.

There will only be one stained-glass window in the church, which Fr. Dobrowski was quick to point out is the same number of stained-glass windows in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The stained-glass window at St. Margaret Mary’s will be in the confessional.

“Most people come out with their heads up,” said Hank Castaneda, a local Knight of Columbus who was helping hand out hard hats. The tour ends before people are finished taking in the massive church, he said.

The altar, which will be in front of a large crucifix with a six-foot tall corpus, sits atop a raised floor, calling attention to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The new building will seat more than 1,000 between the nave pews and the inclined seats in the choir loft.

The community has kept an eye on cost, though, using less expensive and energy efficient building techniques. Those include styrofoam blocks and well-placed heating and cooling vents.

A major stumbling block in the construction was the flat floor. When Fr. Dobrowski approached diocesan leadership about the new church in 1992, he learned the diocese prescribed sloped floors to enable the congregation to see the altar.

The rules have since changed, making way for the traditional, cruciform design at St. Margaret Mary. The church will even feature a baldacchino — a four-pillared canopy over the altar.

“The church will be friendly to the Latin Mass,” Fr. Dobrowski added, noting that the church will feature altar rails on either side.

There’s still a lot of work to be done, according to Olivia McCormick, who serves on the capital campaign and planning committees. While the parish has raised some $3.5 million to pay for the construction thus far, another $3.7 million or so will be raised through bonds to complete the inside of the church. The community expects the church to be finished in November.

When it does open, the old church will provide much-needed classroom space.