At the
Pope John Paul II Activity Center Mass and Dedication, held
on Sunday, November 23, Capital Campaign Co-Chair Mike Gallagher
talked joyfully about the project looking back “five years
ago when it began,” and acknowledged Fr. Dan Danielson,
CCOP pastor for 22 years, “who agreed to take on the building
of the Activity Center.”
To enthusiastic applause, CCOP Parochial Administrator Fr. Padraig
Greene spoke about the Activity Center. “We are blessing
our Family Room today because of the growth of our faith family
over the past 20 years,” and noted that “almost
50 families registered for the parish during October and November.”
“This is a center for God’s family and Christ is
present in his body the Church,” Fr. Padraig continued.
“The new building only makes sense when it is linked to
our Eucharistic table. It is there we celebrate our Catholic
identity and, aware of that identify, we assemble here for the
many gatherings of our parish family.”
Earlier at 3:00 p.m., everyone in the packed sanctuary of St.
Elizabeth Seton Church stood and sang, “We are the Church,”
as Bishop Allen Vigneron, priests, and deacons from CCOP's past
and present streamed in to be part of the Activity Center dedication
Mass.
Bishop Vigneron started the Mass with the greeting and ended
it later in the Activity Center with the dismissal. In his homily,
the Bishop noted that he was grateful to be a part of such a
wonderful event as the dedication and delightfully surprised
by the fine young people’s choir as they lifted their
praise to God. He reminded everyone that “through the
Church we are growing the kingdom of Christ for our children
and our children’s children.”
Prior to dismissal, the bishop, priests,
and deacons started the procession to the Activity Center and
the congregation of 800 followed out of St. Elizabeth Seton,
across the parking lot and to the front doors of the new activity
center singing, “Here I Am, Lord,” with sound that
rose to heaven as a prayer of thanksgiving to God.
There, Bishop Vigneron blessed the Activity Center and gave
thanks not only to those who were responsible in creating it
but to the congregation as well for the many sacrifices it provided
to make the structure possible.
Then the doors swung open and the crowd entered under a burgundy
and white balloon arch into the spacious building with its pale
green interior walls, high lofty ceiling up above, and shiny
wooden floor below. Colorful hand-made banners from Small Church
and Intergenerational Faith Communities formed the backdrop
behind the podium.
“It’s nice to be home,” said Fr. Dan who met
weekly with the project managers even after he retired in December,
2007 from CCOP. He talked about the project and “all you
have worked for as a community,” noting that “one-half
of the project is yet to be built.”
Rick Hankins, the Activity Center Project Manager and a CCOP
parishioner, thanked the many people responsible for helping
with the project and talked a little about working with Fr.
Dan during the course of it. Hankins also talked about the green
aspects of the building. Some of the green aspects of the building
include features such as lights that dim according to the amount
of natural sunlight coming in through the skylights and water-conserving
irrigation that's partially fed by the water collected from
the roof.
Representing the city, Pleasanton City Councilmember Jerry Thorne,
a CCOP parishioner, thanked the church members for their “environmental
stewardship.”
Later, at the celebration party, Fr. Padraig talked about the
Activity Center and the church’s mission of evangelization.
He said that it was a “miracle to be celebrating the dedication
of another new building so soon after St. Elizabeth Seton Church,
and thanked everyone for the “sacrifices you have made”
to make this a reality.
“The most important thing is that we make Christ known,”
Fr. Padraig continued, “and when we gather here for whatever
reason, whether it’s funeral receptions, whether it’s
concerts, we welcome people into our home and it’s a very
particular kind of home. It’s God’s house where
God’s family comes. So, I would like to think that whatever
is done here in the Catholic Community of Pleasanton, people
can invite their non-Catholic friends, people who are searching
for a faith family, people maybe who are lapsed from the Church,
so that in some way it’s the welcome room.”
Fr. Dan was very pleased with the new Activity Center. “It’s
a great sense of completion to see this building come up and
be so beautiful and so well-made. I’m very grateful to
the parishioners and especially to Rick Hankins for making it
possible because I’m aware that all the I’s are
dotted and all the T’s crossed in this building, which
when I built the church I was guessing at a good number of things
as best I could. But to have the expertise of Rick gives me
a lot of confidence in this building. So I’m very pleased
to see it, knowing that the debt will be paid off and looking
forward to the completion of the project.”
Fr. Padraig closed the dedication ceremony by saying…
“May the walls of this center nurture the spirit and mission
of our parish.
May the walls echo with sounds of joy and laughter.
May we find here shelter from the storms and sorrows of life.
May we find here a place to grow in togetherness, wisdom and
love.
May we continue to be known as a welcoming community with open
doors to all who come.”
Fr. Padraig then invited everyone to enjoy “food from
around the world,” and he thanked both Bishop Vigneron
(who earlier had led everyone in prayer and blessed the new
building) and all the priests who joined in the dedication.
Click
here for "Growing parish dedicates new center in Pleasanton",
an article in the December 15, 2008 Catholic Voice.
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