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| Holy Family buys church Waukegan parish to create one site By Virginia Mullery Special Contributor One more unusual twist in the evolution of Waukegan’s Holy Family Parish occurred recently when it agreed to purchase the Assembly of God’s Calvary Temple. The $1.5 million purchase will give the parish a church seating 600, flanked by a large assembly hall on one side and offices and smaller meeting rooms on the other; a rectory; and a multi-purpose building with a gym for youth programs; all situated on five acres. It is located on Keller Avenue near Belvidere Road, less than two miles west of the two present churches. The congregation now meets in the former St. Joseph and St. Bartholomew churches. The two parishes merged in 1991, retaining both churches and their auxiliary buildings. In 1996, the parish name was changed to Holy Family. With 3,000 people attending nine weekend Masses in the two small churches and overflow crowds at the Spanish Masses, it became increasingly apparent that the facilities were not adequate, said Father Gary Graf, the pastor. “God has blessed us and we’ve continued to grow,” he said. “I like to build the kingdom. I’m not into building structures but we need a larger form to continue to function.” David Schwartz, associate director of the archdiocesan Office of Research and Development, said, “Buying a Protestant church for Catholic worship is rare but not unique. Old St. Mary’s Church, the first parish in Chicago was for a time in a former Congregational church. But it has happened only once in the last 50 years.” The Keller Avenue property will change ownership Jan. 1, and Graf hopes to have remodeling completed by Easter. Planned changes include adding 100 seats, top the worship space and incorporating stained glass from the old churches into the new. Long range, Graf hopes to turn the spacious front lawn into a prayer garden that will include statues of saints representing the various ethnic groups in the parish. St. Joseph was established in 1870 as a German parish and St. Bartholomew in 1896 as a Lithuanian parish. Both have long served a large Hispanic population. There has been some dissension among older members of the congregation, but Deacon Edward Scarbalis, who grew up in St. Bartholomew Parish, said the move is being “pretty well accepted. People realize that if we had not consolidated we would probably be closed now. And two small churches do not make a big one.” “This will give us a new spirit of unity,” Graf said, “and economically, it’s a wise decision. Maintaining the old buildings was becoming increasingly costly and we can purchase for much less than it would cost to build new.” Graf worries about leaving the two neighborhoods where the parish has provided a vital social outreach to Catholics and non-Catholics alike. At both sites, parishioners have operated soup kitchens and food pantries as well as providing other services. Consequently, Graf is talking with Catholic Charities representatives about the possibility of the agency taking ownership of some of the buildings so those services can continue. |
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