‘Building on Tradition of Faithfulness’
Saint John’s on the Grow
By Steve Gust
For The Sooner Catholic

EDMOND — St. John the Baptist Catholic Parish mirrors its community. Both are experiencing growth and St. John’s is responding with expansion of the sanctuary as well as new facilities for the parish and its school, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.

With 2,800 families, the need for room is acute on the 5- to 7-acre central Edmond parish. To address this, St. John’s is now in phase 2 of a total $6.9 million project called “Building on a Tradition of Faithfulness.”

The man who is overseeing most of the details of the effort is Deacon Bill Coyle, who is also business manager for the parish. These days, Coyle is devoting most of his time to the expansion.

More space has been needed for years. Even in the late 1990s, the parish was ready to launch a fund-raising drive for expansion. However, the ill health of late Pastor John Petuskey prevented an earlier start, Coyle said. Father John Metzinger became pastor in 2002 and plans were renewed as the need for more room became even clearer.

“The key is if your Masses are at 80 percent capacity regularly, then you need to look at expanding your facilities,” Coyle said.

The parish has been in its current sanctuary since 1984. The “Building on a Tradition of Faithfulness,” expanded the sanctuary, starting in late 2004.  While encouraging participation in the fund-raising in 2003, Father Metzinger said trying to fit large congregations into Easter or Christmas Masses was similar to seeing “how many people one could fit in a Volkswagen.”

The first priority, in phase 1, was to expand the sanctuary seating from 850 to 1,250. That was completed just prior to Christmas Masses last year. Most of the worship services were nearly full, even with the extra pews and seating.

One Easter Mass at St. John’s earlier this year had an attendance estimated at 1,500.

More seating room wasn’t the only addition.

A beautiful stained glass display draped the entire back of the church. Coyle had pitched the idea to Father Petuskey years ago and after some thought, he endorsed it. The stained glass was added earlier this year. Loman’s Studios of Tulsa prepared the work, which continues to draw raves from parishioners.

“What I hadn’t counted on, was how beautiful it would look from the outside at night to all the people driving by,” Coyle said.

A new and beautiful main entrance was also added with additional room just outside of the sanctuary. Receptions, such as the first Mass for newly ordained Father Dan Letourneau, have been held there. And the area has easily held hundreds.

The expansion, done by W.L. McNatt & Co. of Oklahoma City, also should ease the burden on scheduling for the 80 organizations which meet regularly. The sanctuary project also enlarged the cry room as well as provided a new area for the choir. That is a welcomed addition, according to Father Letourneau.

“The choir now has the room it needs to be comfortable to sing and play their instruments,” Father Letourneau said.

“The new expansion allows the beginning of Mass to begin from the back of the church and have a true procession toward the altar,” he said.

Phase 1 work, with a cost of $3.3 million, is basically over for St. John’s, a parish with a rich heritage. It was the first church established after the 1889 Land Run.

Now phase 2 construction, worth $3.6 million, is under way, and some remodeling of classrooms has been done at St. Elizabeth’s, Coyle said. The school, established in 1990, is the largest elementary in the Archdiocese from grades pre-K to eighth. Almost 480 students are enrolled. Room has also been needed there, Coyle said. For instance, the school is served by one gym. That facility is also used for dinners and other events. Scheduling is a challenge there as well.

“We have some school teams which have to practice up to 10 p.m. just to use the court, and I think that’s too late for the kids,” Coyle said.

With that the parish is building  a new 27,000-square-foot athletic complex. That will feature another gymnasium, which will also double as assembly area for the school. It will come complete with big screens that will lower for educational films. Religious Education will have an office in the center and there will be a larger room for the youth group to meet as well as shower facilities, weight room, science room and other facilities to continue the education mission at St. John’s.

Coyle is hoping the facility will be complete by February.

To get to this point, it has taken a great deal of work. Dozens of parish volunteers were used in the fundraising drive. Helping to lead that effort were building board members Tom Casso, John Erbrick and Ken Kenworthy. A great deal of credit and appreciation also goes to hundreds of parishioners who have contributed to “A Tradition of Faithfulness.”

So far, building estimates have been almost right on target, Coyle said. Phase 1 came in at $12,000 over budget. Phase 2, if all goes to plan, looks to be $36,000 under what had been budgeted.

In terms of funding, Coyle is confident the projects should be fully funded. “If the funds go over what we need it will be used for furnishing,” he said.

Coyle monitors the construction work and crews carefully each day. There are a lot of details to handle, but it’s gratifying to Coyle and the rest of the parish staff to provide the facilities needed for the ever-growing parish.

“I think what I like best is when visitors come to Mass here and can’t even tell where or what we expanded or added,” he said.