Ireland is getting a new church.
Residents will have the chance to step into the new St. Mary Church building for the first time this Sunday.
Since breaking ground in 2018, St. Mary’s Parish Council President, Patrick Gress, says that these new upgrades were definitely needed.
“Well, we had extensive studies done on the old church and we know it’s still standing. It’s fairly stable now, but over time it’s not going to hold up and we were having capacity issues and too many people in the aisle ways at times. So we looked into and it’s been most recently about a 20-year process,” he says.
Gress says that the church is not only just a fresh coat of paint compared to the new one, but the church also has many new amenities.
“We have a really nice cry room for young families and we have a lot more restrooms in this one than we had in the other one. We have a nice new gathering area called the narthex out here. They say we can set up 136 to 150 chairs in there for overflow seating like for Christmas masses and stuff. So altogether, we can probably bump our seating capacity up to about 850,” he says.
Gress says that the community is very excited about the new church as well.
A church dedication is scheduled for Sunday, June 28th at 1 pm.
For more information about the dedication, visit the St. Mary Church Ireland Facebook Page.
18 WJTS TV is airing the St. Mary Church Dedication of the new church building on Thursday, July 2nd at 8 pm eastern and on Sunday, July 5th, at 2 pm eastern.
