By Tricie Callaghan-Stover, Hamilton
I became a member of St. Francis Parish in 1978. I have adult children who received the Sacraments of Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation and Marriage in the current church building. Over the last 41 years I, too, have many, many fond memories of special celebrations in this building. Most importantly, I am a Roman Catholic who is very grateful to be a part of the wonderful, vibrant community of St. Francis Parish and the greater Bitterroot Valley.
That being said, as has been explained in detail through the many church building meetings open to the public over the last few years, the decision to dismantle the old church building and erect a new one was made very prayerfully and very carefully by our parish community and the Diocese of Helena.
The current church building is inadequate to meet the needs of our parish community and the parish community of our future St. Francis members. The church building is our SACRED SPACE, erected on consecrated ground. It is where we celebrate our Sacramental life together – being an historical building is a very secondary aspect of this building. Over the years, Parish members have worked very hard to keep the current building in good repair, but there are significant safety and adequate space issues for our parish community that simply cannot be adequately addressed and met by attempting to restore the current building.
Parish members on the building committee have worked very hard with the architects and other professionals in reaching a determination that we needed to rebuild our church rather than renovate the current building. We have gone through at least three (3) iterations of intense research and planning in order to reach the decision that we needed to rebuild, rather than restore. If folks who are still wondering why we have made the decision to rebuild would please go to the St. Francis Pastoral Life center, view the architectural renditions of the new church building and educate themselves about the long process we have gone through to reach this decision, you might have a better understanding. The new building will essentially look exactly like the current building, only larger, safer and ADA accessible. This is NOT going to be a “mega-church” contrary to some of the falsehoods floating around in the community. The plans are to incorporate the current bell tower into the new building structure and to reuse and “re-purpose” many of the timbers, hardwood and other materials that are salvageable and safe to reuse. We will be taking many other “pieces and parts” of the current building, including our Crucifix and Stations of the Cross. Again, please understand that this is our SACRED SPACE, erected on consecrated ground, where our community celebrates its sacramental life. It is not a museum.
If you take the time to look at the original photos of the current St. Francis Church building, you will see that it stands alone in the middle of a huge field. The Diocese of Helena (of which we parishioners are all members) owns the block where the church, Pastoral Life Center and old Parish Center (which currently houses the MAPS program) stand. This is private property and all expenses for these buildings and grounds are paid for PRIVATELY by parishioners. The community of St. Francis Parish built our new pastoral life center a number of years ago and it provides a wonderful space for not only our parish, but for many community groups. As mentioned, the MAPS program is currently renting our old Parish Center. The parish has done ongoing outreach to this community for 120+ years, to Catholics and non-Catholics alike. It is part of our mission as Catholics to be an integral part of our community, and to share our spaces and our talents with our greater community.
I have recently heard some comments in our community that concern me deeply. (One commenter suggested that we move our church building AWAY from our current location – effectively forcing us to leave our private property and our Pastoral Life Center – and a comment stating “If people didn’t go to church so much they wouldn’t need a new one.”) One of the messages I am hearing is that the current and long-term needs of the parish community of St. Francis are less important than the secular, emotional needs of a few people who want a pretty historical building to look at. Other negative comments are from folks who have no interest in religion at all – certainly your right, but it does not trump our rights. This is all beginning to smack of anti-Catholic/anti-Christian sentiment and is dangerously skating along the edge of violating our 1st Amendment right to the free exercise of religion.
I would respectfully ask those people who are pushing “save the building” comments to be more thoughtful, and to educate themselves about the larger issues at stake here. The parish community of St. Francis is a very large group of local citizens who are your neighbors and friends. Not everyone shares the same opinion about the decision the parish community has reached to rebuild our church building, but it is ultimately the right of our parish community to have made this decision and to pursue it.