Bursting at the seams

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This article was published 14/05/2016 (3755 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Twenty-five babies baptized each month. One thousand children in catechism classes. Twenty-five hundred families. And millions of dollars raised.

However you add it up, the numbers are astounding — and even a bit overwhelming — at St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, 748 Keewatin St.

“We are blessed, we are so blessed.” Rev. Enrique M. Samson Jr. says of the 10,000 or so members filling the church in the Tyndall Park neighbourhood.

That blessing also means people have to scramble for seats at one of the six weekend masses, five in English, one in Tagalog.

Constructed in 1975, the sanctuary of the 75,000-square-foot building seats only 300, with another 400 or more forced to watch on large TV screens in the church hall, adjacent classrooms or the foyer.

On Sunday, a solution to that problem begins, as the people of St. Peter’s break ground on a new $35-million church complex, located on 10 acres at the corner of Inkster and Brookside boulevards, a five-minute drive from their current location.

“Our people belong in this neighbourhood,” Samson says of his largely Filipino congregation.

“They would not follow us if we transferred to another neighbourhood.”

Already, some Roman Catholics in the area drive to another parish because of the bulging weekend masses and overfilled parking lots, says a member of the parish building committee.

“What is happening is there are those are residing in the neighbourhood but because it is so crowded, they don’t come,” explains Luchie Sanchez, who has attended St. Peter’s for two decades.

One of several urban parishes in the Archdiocese of Winnipeg experiencing rapid growth owing to immigration, St. Peter’s is the only parish moving forward with building plans this year, says Archbishop Richard Gagnon.

“Immigration definitely transforms these parishes. But it’s not unique to Winnipeg. I had the same phenomenon in Vancouver,” says Gagnon, who came to the city two years ago from B.C.

The last building project in the Archdiocese of Winnipeg was the 2014 completion of St. Gianna Beretta Molla Church in southwest Winnipeg.

The first phase of St. Peter’s building features a $12-million multipurpose hall and kitchen, expected by be completed in the fall of 2017. The remaining two phases of the V-shaped structure includes a 1,500-seat sanctuary and a 75-seat chapel, flanked by the hall at one side and a classroom wing at the other. The grounds include a basketball court, a labyrinth, a venue for wedding photos, parking for 640 cars and a grotto with a stature of the Virgin Mary.

“It is very rewarding that we are at the point where we can see something happening,” says Sanchez, who has been involved in fundraising and building plans with 10 other committee members since 2010.

Over the last four years, the parish has raised more than $8 million in pledges and cash through concerts, golf tournaments, dinner, fun runs and gift-card sales. Sanchez says they must raise 60 per cent of the funds, with the remainder mortgaged through the archdiocese.

“Everyone is trying to help us out with fundraising. Every Sunday there’s something to sell,” says Sanchez, who recalls dragging containers filled with 30,000 pennies to the bank after a parish coin drive.

Parishioners have been generous, but many of them also have families to support here and in the Philippines, says Samson, one of two priests serving the parish.

“Our ultimate vision is to be able to hand on the legacy of faith and love of family to the next generation,” says Samson, who came to Canada in 2001.

“So the church would be an expression of what we want to offer to the next generation.”

brenda@suderman.com

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