Our New Home
The new headquarters for St. Albert the Great Parish
The main entrance to the offices and rectory
Sunday within the Octave of Sacred Heart, June 13, 2010
After months of careful negotiating and deliberations, on Friday, June 4, the day after Corpus Christi, we received word that no further obstacles remained in our way, and that we could finally move forward to taking over the LaValle property (pictured above) on July 1. Thanks to the fervent prayers and generosity of our parishioners, we should shortly have the requisite amount for a down payment on a lease with the option to purchase the building in two years' time. The hand of Divine Providence has guided us throughout this entire project to find a new home for our parish, and certainly we should all be thankful to Almighty God, without whose help we would never have had the grace to persevere. Please take the time to re-examine the following pictures of the property, which we hope will fit all our needs for church and rectory, and eventually for a school for our children. As we pointed out before, it has sufficient grounds for us to have everything from parking to processions, playground to parish picnics. Now that we are on the verge of moving in, we should start to think about the many ways we can take advantage of all the benefits our new headquarters will bring us.
The entrance to what will soon be our new church (left).
The picture above gives a good idea of the layout of the buildings. They are built, as you can see, on an incline. This gives us the advantage of having all three levels accessible to the outdoors. There are no dingy basements; instead, natural light flows into almost every room on the property. This also increases the safety aspect, as there are many exits throughout both buildings.
The building on the left in the picture will soon be our new church. We plan to purchase pews as well as an altar, and other church furniture, so that it will soon be a far more suitable place for Mass than the hotel rooms we have become accustomed to.
Location
Everyone should make a note of our new address: 3200 Woodside Drive, Fairfield, OH 45014. The property is located in a quiet and affluent residential neighborhood about a mile and half from I-275 (Exit 39 at Cincinnati Mills). The setting is almost completely secluded, with its own private driveway (shown as Elm Hill Lane on the map below) and almost two acres of land. Click on the "View Larger Map" link on the satellite image below, and you will clearly see the main L-shaped building with what will be our new church right next to it. Or click on the road map button at the top right and zoom out to get an idea of driving directions and distance from the Interstate.
Size
We shall have a full 1.8 acres of land, on which the two buildings have plenty of room for future growth. The building which is to become our church is already more than big enough for our existing congregation, and as you can see from the photo above gives us room to expand later if we need to. The basement of the church is large enough to convert into a rectory, with ample living quarters that will eventually include bedrooms, living room, bathrooms and kitchen. And when we eventually start an official full-time school, we already have ten large classrooms in place, fully furnished and equipped. Meanwhile, we can use some of these classrooms for other parish activities. For example, one of the classrooms will be used temporarily as a sacristy, and another as a social hall. In the past, the Lavalle School had up to 150 students, so we have plenty of room to expand within the almost 10,000 sq. ft. of space. There is currently enough parking for at least 40 cars, with room to expand if we need to. Over the next few weeks we will be planning out the parking in more detail, so that larger vehicles for example will have enough space to maneuver.
View of Private Driveway looking towards the exit
The grounds already contain playground equipment, and are large enough for barbecues, a parish picnic, processions, or other outdoor activities for children and adults alike.
Potential for School
The following shots of the existing classrooms will give you an idea of the list of contents we will be taking over. Note all the desks and chairs, furniture, bookshelves, science equipment, musical instruments, educational rugs, filing cabinets, the list goes on and on. And what you don't see behind the doors of the cabinets are included also: countless books, games, art equipment, and so on, all items we would have needed to purchase separately at great expense. And until we open up a full-time school, we have lots of ways we can put these classrooms to very good use: catechism classes, home school programs, a small theater for movie nights and plays, meeting rooms, social hall, and so on.
Classroom adjacent to entrance on upper floor.
Note that because the property is built on a
hill, each room has ample lighting
as well as access to exit doors in the event of
a fire or other emergency.
The same
classroom taken from the opposite side.
The two blue doors on the right are little
bathrooms with mini-toilets for the younger children.
Large
classroom on the upper level.
Note the open double doors in the left
background, which connect to another classroom.
Another classroom on the upper level.
The
music room. Note the keyboards and guitars.
Other instruments include xylophones, handbells
and drums.
The science room. Note the expensive microscope equipment on the right.
The new church
You see below the basic structure of what is to be our new church. Not very impressive today, but with the a real altar, communion rail, pews, statues and so on, there is no reason why we cannot make this into a beautiful and decent-sized chapel for our Mass. As we no longer will have to assemble and dismantle every Sunday, we can spend a bit more time on making things look as nice as possible.
Facing towards what would eventually be the Sanctuary. The altar would fit very nicely between the two windows.
The rear
of what will be the church. Note the upper level, which can be converted into
a choir loft.
The small kitchen will be our "cry room".
The two bathrooms on the right will eventually be removed
and turned into confessionals.
A rectory for Father Ramolla
The current owner of the school is already using one of the classrooms as living quarters. This room could continue to be used as such temporarily, and Father could move in almost immediately, thus removing the expense of the apartment, and freeing up the monthly second collection for other needs. We just have to add on a proper bathroom with shower and Father can move in right away.
Classroom currently being used as living quarters. This would make a very comfortable bedroom/living room for Father until work is completed on a permanent Rectory in the undercroft of the church.
The unfinished basement below the church was the former school's art room. Eventually, we can make use of its 1800 sq. ft. to divide it up into proper living quarters for one or more priests. The Rectory will probably consist of two or more bedrooms with private bathrooms, a living room, dining room, laundry room and kitchen.
Social hall
The room below will be used as our social hall and kitchen. We will need to replace the tables and chairs, and remove some of the other furniture. But this should be adequate for our needs, and will provide us with a gathering place after Mass, where we can enjoy a decent cup of coffee and some donuts, and chat with other parishioners before the drive home.
Currently the school cafeteria, it would not take much work to
transform this room into a parish social hall.
Not shown in this photo is the kitchen area
just off to the right, with stove, refrigerator and cabinets.
For those of you fortunate enough to have attended the Open House, you are aware what a blessing it is to have found this property in such a good location. For everyone else, we hope these pictures will provided some idea of what we can look forward to soon. Most of the parish has already generously pledged to share the ongoing expenses of our new home. However, there are still some parishioners who may have decided to "wait and see" before supporting this endeavor. Of course, it's never too late, and if you haven't yet pledged a monthly amount to help us with the lease payment, please consider doing so now. Click on the link below and fill out the accompanying Pledge Form, and decide how you can best afford to become a founder of St. Albert the Great Parish and share in the expenses that will help provide you with a fitting home for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
