April 25, 2004

Photo courtesy of Steve and Cindy Lamsey
CAPITAL CELEBRATION St. Jude pastor Father Bob Hofstetter (left) addresses the congregation as servers Shelby Whalen, Dylan Lotufo, and Walker Lotufo and associate pastors Father Mark Scholz and Father Augustine Idra look on.

On March 13 and 14 St Jude Parish in Chattanooga held “Commitment Weekend” celebrations and a groundbreaking ceremony for its new 27,200-square-foot family-life center, to be completed early next year.

At special Masses, all parishioners were asked to prayerfully register a three-year pledge commitment to the “Gather Us In, Lord!” capital campaign to benefit the parish, community, and diocese. Each Mass was followed by a reception for parishioners in Siener Hall, the parish’s multipurpose hall, which also serves as a gym, a cafeteria, and an auditorium for the school.

The new family-life center will include a full-size gym with bleachers and locker rooms, an indoor walking track, ministry and Scout rooms, two state-of-the-art kindergarten rooms, and a casual lounge area.

The groundbreaking ceremony after the 10:30 Mass began with a procession of the congregation, led by Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus, from the church to the building site. Pastor Father Bob Hofstetter and more than 600 parishioners blessed the site with prayers, then members of the building committee, the architect, the builder, and Father Hofstetter donned hardhats and shovels and broke ground on the site.

Catholic Scouts released 50 balloons to symbolize sending the parish’s prayers for the new building to God and to signify the nearly 50 years since St. Jude’s establishment. Parishioners were invited to place family prayer-intention cards for the new building in the site’s retaining wall.