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| The new church is connected to the stone chapel, physically and symbolically |
During the 1980s, a groundswell of support evolved for a new church.
Parishioners wanted a more sacred, inspirational, and spacious environment than the current facilities. “Church should
inspire us to think of God,” says Phillips, “and many people have told us that the hall just does not provide
that inspiration.”
Space had become a critical concern at St. Francis, too. With an
average of two families joining the Abingdon parish each week, a new worship center with twice the capacity of the existing
space had become necessary.
Actually, the need to build a third structure had been the most
critical concern of the parish since the early 1980s. By 1986, the building committee, working with Phiullips, selected the
architectural firm of Rubeling & Associates to design plans for a church that would be located on a spacious area alongside
the old, historic church. Connected to the old church via a foyer, the new building would be a two-level structure that would
take advantage of some of the existing church features – the sacristy, the bell tower, the basement space. The price
tag for such a project was estimated to be $1.2 million.
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| Rev. Phillips urged parishoners to take on the challenge of building a much-needed new church |
Phillips got the ball rolling in January 1987, when the parish introduced
the first parish of its Capital Campaign to raise funds for the new church. About 50 percent of the 800 families pledged contributions
toward the goal. By May of the following year, about $535,000 had been raised for the new church project. About half of this
principal had been raised during the 1970s from giving campaigns that had been initiated for the purpose of building another
community center. At this time, the building committee, under the direction of Fran Schindler, presented its plans to the
Archdiocese Planning Committee. Citing a few examples of perceived weakness in the parish’s financial condition, the
Archdiocese recommended that the parish consider a more modest design scheme that would come in under $1 million, or delay
the project until more funds could be generated. The council would not be dissuaded, however, from building a large structure.
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| Ground breaking ceremonies in April 1991 |
By 1988, St. Francis was serving
900 families. This new growth was reason enough for the parish to persist in
its effort to build a larger church. Finally, after considering this growth and
other new information provided by the parish, the Archdiocese agreed to guarantee a $300,000 loan towards the originally proposed
$1.2 million design.
In the spring of 1989,
however, the building project encountered a major setback. Analyses of soil conditions
at the planned site indicated that the building’s foundation would have to be fortified. The architect estimated that this special construction would increase costs by $300,000. Further, both the
Archdiocese and the architect identified other site limitations that would hinder this new project and future enhancements.
Consequently, the parish’s building committee, finance committee, parish
council explored options with the Archdiocese, including the possibility of moving the parish to archdiocesan-owned land on
Route 924 and Singer Road.
At a special meeting at
the rectory in September 1989, the parish council considered three logical options: (1) pay significantly more to build the
original structure; (2) downsize the project and build where planned; or (3) move the parish to archdiocesan-owned land situated
between Routes 924 and 24. Upon reviewing the facts, the parish council voted
seven-to-three to keep the parish on Abingdon Road.
(Two earlier votes had ended in ties.)
In voting to retain the parish’s 120-year-old address, the council
also recognized that the original plan was no longer a viable option. Thus, the
original design was modified and new blueprints were drawn up to include a one-story structure with a seating capacity of
600, but with the potential for efficient future expansion to 800. Furthermore,
the church would be built very near, although not exactly on, the originally proposed site at an estimated cost of $1.4 million.
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| First mass in the new church on Christmas Day, 1991 |
In January 1990, the pledge
period for the parish’s first professionally administered Capital Campaign began, with approximately $625,000 already
in the bank from past donations. This figure included about $400,000 raised during
earlier fund-raising efforts.
On April 19, 1991, the
people of St. Francis celebrated the ground breaking for their new church. Former
council presidents Rick Kutchey, Gloria Mantek, and Ed Petrovic joined current president James Edwards and building committee
chairman Fran Schindler in turning the soil. The proud community of St. Francis
de Sales opened its new church in April 1992. When Fr. Phillips swung open the
carved oak doors for the first Mass, one could almost feel the presence of Fr. Patrick O’Connor, the pastor in the 1860s.
The people of this parish have given “realization to the long talked about
project and made the sacred edifice spring into existence as if by miracle.”
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| Potential seating capacity is six times greater than the stone chapel and twice the parish center |
The Growth of Catholicism in Abingdon
It is expected that the
parishes of St. Margaret and St. Francis will experience the fastest growth of all of the Catholic congregations in Harford
County in the future.
St.
Margaret is situated in the northern section of the Route 24 corridor, making it St. Francis’ closest and most influential
neighbor. This Bel Air parish had grown by over 1,000 members from 1982 through
1991 and totals over 8,000. Its congregation is expected to grow by approximately
25 percent over the next 15 years.
St.
Francis, located in the southeast section of the Route 24 corridor, has grown by nearly 30 percent since 1982 and totals over
3,100. With several large new developments, including Constant Friendship and
Box Hill South within parish boundaries, general population over the next 15 years could grow by as much as 50 percent.
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| First rectory in 100 years |
A study developed by the National Pastoral Planning Conference indicates
that Harford County is 17 percent Catholic. The estimated total population in Abingdon in 1990 was 22,100. Applying the above
average, parish planners assume that 3,800 Catholics live within the church’s boundaries. Population growth projections for the year 2000 suggest the town of Abingdon
could be home to nearly 30,000 people, 5,000 of whom would be Catholics.
These numbers suggest
St. Francis could grow to be appreciably bigger than many of its neighbors, including St. Joan of Arc in Aberdeen, St. Patrick in Havre de Grace, and St. Stephen in Bradshaw.
In 125 years, St. Francis
de Sales has grown from an obscure mission to one of the most dynamic parishes in the county.
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