When Father John Melmer, pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church in Warrenton, struck his shovel into the ground in July to begin the church’s long-awaited expansion, more than a few parishioners must have been filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit. Dave McNichol, chairman of the building committee since the project originated in 1999, was among them.
A parishioner for over 30 years, McNichol was “very happy to see this project being fulfilled.”
Plans for this growing parish to expand its church and facilities have been “in the works” since then-pastor Father Michael Bazan first envisioned the project and initiated “Expansion 2000.” As the only Catholic church in Fauquier County located at the western end of the Arlington Diocese, St. John’s has seen its membership increase dramatically since it was built in 1964. Currently serving about 2,300 families, St. John’s has offered six Masses for years: one Saturday vigil, one Sunday evening, and four on Sunday morning. “We have people standing outside the church for at least three of these Masses,” said McNichol.
The original plans under Father Bazan’s direction included more than doubling seating capacity by adding new wings to the main worship area, a basement under the new wing, additional office and storage space, expanded parking and new outdoor lighting. McNichol joined parishioners Rod Beran, chairman of the interior committee, and Steve Wolfe, director of maintenance, to get the project underway, and pledges and money started pouring in. Parishioners initially pledged between $2 million to $2.5 million for the project, which would have met Father Bazan’s expectations to raise as much as 60 percent of the project’s anticipated costs (the diocese only requires a parish have 40 percent of a project’s funding available before beginning) had construction costs not escalated so quickly, increasing the cost of the project beyond what committee members had estimated.
Then, growing construction demands placed on the diocese forced the Warrenton project to be placed on hold. When Father Bazan was reassigned in June 2004 he left not only an unfulfilled vision but much uncertainty among parishioners about the future of the project. By late 2004, the cost had risen to about $9 million, considerably more than the parish could afford. Still, McNichol and Beran did not give up.
Father Steve Leva served as pastor for one year until family issues sent him home to Pennsylvania. Father John Melmer was assigned to St. John’s in late June 2005. Father Melmer clearly remembers his first meeting with the two gentlemen the morning after he arrived at St. John’s.
“I hadn’t even been here for 24 hours,” Father Melmer said with a chuckle, “and they wanted to see me right after Mass on that Thursday morning. They were hot about meeting with me to talk about this project.”
Father Melmer immediately knew he had inherited a strong desire to complete this project, “and being the only Catholic church in this county and with no other plans to build another church in the county, I knew we had to do this,” he said.
Now cost prohibitive, the original project had to be scaled back considerably and was limited to expanding the church seating (from 400 to 800) and parking areas. “We went with a simple design of slab on grade,” McNichol said. But even the scaled-back version would require more than what the parish had previously pledged, which meant a second fundraising campaign.
The project was split into two phases, with Phase I addressing the infrastructure, including stormwater management, expansion of the parking lot, and exterior lighting. No diocesan money was needed for Phase I, as the parish was able to completely pay for it using the money already paid into the capital campaign. For Phase II, however, which involves extending the interior of the church by knocking out two side walls to create two wings, the parish needed to request a $2 million loan from the diocese. The project total at this point is estimated at $5.6 million.
Raising more money to pay for the loan could have posed a problem for parishioners, who may have been leery from having previously witnessed the project stall. Fortunately, as the first phase of the project began, they came forward and supported the second capital campaign, McNichol said. Referring to St. John’s as a “country parish with not a lot of new money,” he added that this makes the realization of this project all the more inspiring.
Both he and Father Melmer attest to the community’s spirit of service as an important component of St. John’s and of this project. “We have wonderful people here willing to help,” Father Melmer said. “Everyone wants this project to succeed.”
It is that desire that brought volunteers together to quickly prepare a new place to hold Mass while the church expansion is underway. “We had to make people aware that we had about a week to do this,” Father Melmer said, referring to turning the recently renovated parish hall into a new worship space. “After the last Mass on July 8, people were already here helping and we were ready for Masses to start on the 14th, so again I saw how anxious people were to get this going.”
Many staff members as well as volunteers assisted by moving the altar, statues, stations of the cross, and other familiar sacred items from the main sanctuary into Mercy Hall. Even the pews had to be removed from the church since they would no longer be needed in the new design, which extends pews in a semicircle formation facing the altar. The spirit seemed to be at work here again when St. John’s was able to work out an exchange with Holy Family Parish in Dale City. Holy Family had been using sectional chairs, which were ideal for St. John’s parish hall setting, and gladly offered them to St. John’s in exchange for the pews. Father Melmer credits the Knights of Columbus, in particular, for coordinating the removal of the pews and transporting the chairs to Mercy Hall.
“The Knights of Columbus are very active here,” Father Melmer said, “and they are truly a godsend to this project.” The Knights commissioned the stained glass windows for the remodeled church, which include the five Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary and a circular stained glass window of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Beran had the inspiration for the Luminous Mysteries windows, which he told Father Melmer had come to him during adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. “I thought that was a wonderful idea,” said Father Melmer, “especially since Pope John Paul II had been instrumental during my years in seminary.”
Father Melmer points out that this project also gave him an opportunity to better know parishioners like Beran and McNichol, whom he says he cannot thank enough for helping to make this happen. He calls it “putting the gospel into action. It’s truly the way it should work in the true sense of being a family. When there’s a need, you simply help. The people at St. John’s are true doers of the word.”

(c) Copyright 2007 by Arlington Catholic Herald