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| St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic
Community was formed in July 1983. The first Mass was held at Post Elementary
School that same month at which time about 175 families made up the community.
Our first pastor was Father Pat Meister. By summer of 1985, our parish had
grown to approximately 500 families and our temporary location had moved
to Emmott Elementary. During the first eight months
of the life of our parish, we went through a process called “Becoming
a People,” which consisted of small groups gathering for prayer and
discussion of our mission as a parish community. We then formed a Parish
Convention where the ideas from all the groups were assimilated and the
Parish Mission Statement was developed and finalized. It is the key document
that guides the programs, goals and priorities of the parish.
Once the Parish Mission Statement
was complete, we elected our first Pastoral Council as well as a Building
Committee. In March of 1985, the process of developing the building program
began. The building committee was dedicated to a process that would include
input from all members of the parish. A series of workshops was conducted
in which ideas were shared and decisions were made as to what we wanted
our building to be. Once consensus was reached, the architectural team submitted
the detailed drawings and specifications for the building to the parish
for comments and suggestions. |
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raise funds for the building process began in November 1985, and construction
of the permanent facility began in November 1986.
On November 1, 1987, we
gathered together with our guests to give thanks and praise to God as Bishop
Joseph A. Fiorenza dedicated our church building. |
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In June 1989, with over 700
families in our community we welcomed Father Adam McClosky (left) as our new pastor.
Later that same year, Deacon George Trosclair
(right) joined the staff of our parish
and our Pastoral Council grew from five to seven representatives.
In October
1989, our parish held its first annual Fall Festival. This event has been
a great success each year in bringing about a sense of fellowship and community
in the parish. |
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In June 1990,
Deacon Carl Williford was ordained a permanent deacon and was assigned to
our parish. That same summer, a committee was formed to plan activities
to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of our patron saint.
One
of these was the completion and blessing of the Marian Grotto in March of
1991. A special Interfaith Service was held in August of that year and our
Memorial Bell was installed in our bell tower that summer. |
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| In September of 1990, a Stewardship
Committee was formed to provide more awareness and education in Christian
Stewardship of time, talent and treasure. That fall, we also began our program
of monthly CCE classes for elementary and middle school in order to accommodate
the growing number of students with limited space.
In February 1991, we
started Children’s Church, which enables children ages five through
nine to gain a better understanding of God’s word. In October 1991,
the men of our parish formed a Knights of Columbus Council.
In early 1993, we began an
ongoing process called “Becoming God’s People” with a
theme of building a Christian Community. There were four evening services
during the Lenten Week of Renewal followed by small group home meetings
in the weeks following. The notes from these small group meetings were collected,
summarized and given to Pastoral Council for future planning.
In the spring of 1993, construction
began on our storage and barbecue facility. This building, which provided
much needed additional space for parish activities, was built almost entirely
by the volunteer parishioners. The building was completed in time for the
1993 Fall Festival and its official dedication was held on October 23, 1993.
In July of 1993, St. Maximilian
Kolbe Catholic community celebrated our 10th anniversary as a parish with
a dinner/dance and silent action. Our first ten years as a parish saw a
great deal of growth and many accomplishments. We were now a community of
over 1200 families. |
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In June 1995,
Deacon Ron Fraser was ordained and began his deaconate work along with his
administrative work here at St. Maximilian Kolbe.
We found ourselves,
once again, outgrowing the facilities we had available for our many activities,
and a Building Committee was discerned. With renewed commitment
of the Parish members, a new education building was built and, in November
1997, it was dedicated and named “The Gajowniczek Building.”
The Mothers’ Day Out (MDO) program, |
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August of 1997, and CCE made good use of this building from the very beginning. |
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In January
1999, Deacon Auburn Higgins (top left) was ordained and joined the community.
And in
July 1999, Father John Ulm (bottom left) became our third Pastor.
In January
2000, “Memorial to the unborn” (right) was dedicated.
And now, with an abundance of faith
in the members of St. Maximilian Kolbe . . . we are in the
process of implementing a master plan
that includes the building of a new church, which will meet our
community's current and future needs. |
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Crying Angel In
Memorial to the unborn |
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