By Cindy J. Roth
The church raised $5.2 million to fund the project, and church officials hope the new structure will be complete by Christmas 2002.
Rev. Tom Haggerty said, "We are refacing ourselves for the sake of the community. We want to be a visible beacon for the community."
The existing St. Raphael's church is L-shaped, which makes it hard for everyone to pray together and see one another. Before designing the new church, parish members researched and visited other local churches to find what helps people to pray best together, said Haggerty. The design that the church members decided on will be one big open area where everyone is visible.
Haggerty said the larger building would allow the church to take on more outreach programs like feeding the homeless. The reverend also hopes with the expanded church walls come new parishioners.
"It's easy to build a building, but it's harder to build up people," said Haggerty.
