Church sale upsets parishoners

Parking, growth force change at St. Theresa

By RAMON GONZALEZ
WCR Staff Writer
Edmonton

The Millwoods population, now at 80,000, is expected to double in the next 10 years and Church authorities say they want to be prepared to welcome larger numbers of Catholics in the area.

But some parishioners are questioning the decision, saying it was made without consultation and without exhausting all the possibilities.

According to one parishioner, people are so upset about how the process was handled, they are circulating a petition urging the parish council to call an open meeting to discuss the project.

Plans announced to the surprised congregation over a month ago contemplate building a much larger church.

"We are looking to sell the building and build in a place where we have enough parking for everyone coming to church so that we don't rely on other people," said Father Martin Carroll, the pastor.

"We only have 100 parking stalls in our own parking lot. That gives you parking for 300 people and the church seats 1,500 people."

To top it off, the parish recently lost use of one section of the parking lot at Grant MacEwan College due to college expansion.

Street parking is also limited, the pastor said. "It's a problem for us even when we have weddings or funerals with the lack of parking that we have. But on the weekends it's just becoming impossible."

Plans include building a church for 2,500 people with about 800 to 1,000 parking spots. The cost of the project is not yet known, but estimates fluctuate between $3 and $5 million. A parish committee is already looking for a new site.

Several congregations have already looked at the current church with a view to buying it. Carroll expects the project to be completed in the next three to four years.

"Decisions were made in secret without the average parishioner having an input." - Angela Vitale

The pastor admitted there was no consultation with the parish, but said none was necessary.

"There was no consultation with the parish because there wasn't anything to consult people about," he stressed.

Carroll said the parish approached the archdiocese with its parking concern expecting it to authorize the creation of a second parish for Millwoods. It didn't happen.

"The diocese said 'no,' there will only be one church in the area. . . . The diocese said there is no means of having two parishes because of the lack of priests."

In light of the parking problem, the age and size of the physical plant and the impossibility of creating a second parish, the archdiocese suggested it was time to build a much larger facility away from the present location, noted parish council chair Stephen Dufresne.

But parishioner Armando Lirag said parishioners should have been consulted because they will have to pay for a new church. "This was not really presented well to the people," he lamented.

"Now that we are nearing paying off the mortgage, they decided we should move. Are we back to zero, are we going to pay another mortgage. Does it make any sense?"

Angela Vitale said she was "very surprised and shocked" when the parish council announced the building of a new church. "There was definitely an aura of exclusion and an injustice done to us that things were not out in the open.

"Whether it was the decision of the archdiocese, or whether it was the decision of the powers that be at St. Theresa's, we were excluded from that. Decisions were made in secret without the average parishioner having an input."

She said if the parish council had called an open meeting "people could have brainstormed" and perhaps found a parking solution. "I don't feel that they have looked at all the options."

Dufresne said the parking situation is more complicated than it seems. "Parking is a critical issue," he said, noting that Grant MacEwan College, which has been providing parking for years, is expanding to the point that all parking will be restricted. "So we are basically going to be limited to the parking spots that we have available on our property."

As for the church building itself, Dufresne said the facility was designed to serve a much smaller congregation. "We are quite a large parish now: we have close to 5,000 families and the physical plant is just not capable of serving that many families."

Carroll and Dufresne said they haven't received much negative feedback from parishioners. "Some people are upset about this and they would like there to be two parishes, but for the most part people have been very cooperative and willing to be involved in this process," Carroll said.

"Some people were upset," admitted Dufresne. "The idea of change does that to some people but a lot of people I talked to and that other people talked to were quite encouraged by the fact that we are moving forward in this direction."

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