By Mary Frances McCarthy
Herald Staff Writer
(From the issue of 12/4/03)

From Fairfax Station to Herndon, area Catholics are watching the construction of new churches across the county.

Founded in 1997, St. Raymond of Penafort Parish has been celebrating Masses in schools, Protestant churches and a fire hall in Springfield. Father James Gould, pastor, has had to rely on neighboring parishes to perform baptisms, weddings and funerals. Holy Spirit Parish in Annandale has provided its church for first communion and confirmation services. "All the surrounding parishes have been most generous," he said.

Now the parish is eagerly waiting for Easter 2005, when the church is due to be finished. "I am overwhelmed by the incredible example of patience, generosity and sacrifice of this parish," Father Gould said.

Currently, groundwork is still being completed. The parish land lies in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, and a dry pond needs to be completed before Fairfax County will allow any building. Truckloads of fill dirt have been dumped at the site, as most of the land has to be raised and made level with Pohick Road.

When he began the building project, Father Gould asked one favor from the neighbors surrounding the site of the church. "Be very kind to me," he asked of them. They have not disappointed him.

The stone and brick church, built in a traditional cruciform shape with a gothic-style pitched roof, bell tower and Romanesque stained-glass windows, will seat 850 and contain eight classrooms, a library and a larger meeting room in the basement.

Currently, about 700 families are registered members of St. Raymond Parish, but it is estimated that 2,200 families are living in the parish boundaries.

Although there will also be room for several classrooms in the rectory, Father Gould hopes to continue using classroom space at Angelus Academy for religious education to accommodate the estimated 2,000 children who will belong to the parish.

Children are a main focus in the building project at St. Veronica Parish in Herndon. Of the four new churches being built in the diocese, St. Veronica is the only one that will have a school from the beginning.

Work began Aug. 1 when about half of the 20 acres of land were cleared. Construction began Sept. 1, and the parish hall, classrooms and church offices should be finished by Sept. 1, 2004. The narthex is expected to be finished about a month and half later. Masses will be celebrated in the parish center until the narthex is completed.

Father Marcus Pollard, pastor, has described the layout of the parish buildings as resembling a "klingon battle cruiser." The narthex is central in structure, with the two wings running parallel behind the narthex, away from the road in front of the church. When the rest of the larger, cruciform church is built, it will extend toward the road, so the stained-glass window above the altar will be visible from Centreville Road.

Although the parish only planned to build the parish center and nine classrooms in the first phase, after reviewing the needs and growth of the parish, Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde granted permission to built the first two phases at once, including the narthex and nine more classrooms.

The narthex will accommodate about 600 people for Mass. Currently, parish enrollment is about 600 families, but Father Pollard said he predicts it will reach about 3,000 families in the next five years.

Once the mortgage is paid off from the first phase, the church, auditorium and school cafeteria, and rectory will be built in that order.

Although the structure is currently a maze of concrete walls and it is hard to imagine the final product, construction is on schedule and everything should be under roof by Christmas.

The building process has gone fairly smoothly for Father Pollard, but there have been a few bumps in the road and requests for changes by the county. However, Father Pollard said, "I can honestly say, every bump we’ve hit in the road, with the county or the diocese, has been beneficial."