THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 6, 1994 TAG: 9411040286
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KRYS STEFANSKY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
After five years of worship in an elementary school cafetorium, the congregation of Saint John the Apostle Catholic Church is getting a permanent home.
An 11,000-square-foot church is under construction on 11.5 wooded acres near the intersection of Princess Anne and Sandbridge roads. Work crews began clearing the land early in September. Pilings for the building were sunk by mid-October.
Construction costs are estimated at $1 million.
The daily bustle of trucks and bulldozers is stretching a big smile across the face of Father Dwight Shrader, pastor of the young parish, formed on May 31, 1989.
``I go up there quite a bit,'' the priest said. When it's finished, the church will seat 400 to 450. Glass doors at the rear of the sanctuary will allow parents with small children to see and hear Mass without disturbing the rest of the congregation.
Construction should be completed by spring. Shrader won't allow himself to project a date.
``It's going to be winter soon. We have the weather to deal with,'' he said and then squeezed his eyes shut for a second. ``It would be my dream to be finished by Easter, but I won't talk about that.''
What he will talk about is his joy in how many trees they were able to preserve on the building site and how the congregation is involved in the construction.
Planning began two years ago.
``We paid particular regard to the trees,'' Shrader said, looking at blueprints of the one-story structure. ``The church itself will not be visible from Sandbridge Road. We did that to be a good neighbor and we wanted the feel of a church in the woods.'' A retention pond on the grounds will add atmosphere.
Designed by a Virginia Beach architectural firm, The TAF Group, the church will be built of brick, with stucco-like sections on the sides to make expansion easier.
A planned social hall and office wing will be added eventually.
``The philosophy we've used is that we want to get in it and we can do a lot of projects later on,'' Shrader said.
Saint John's 500-member congregation is participating in the building project to an unusual degree.
``We are acting as our own contractor,'' said Shrader. ``It's the first time the bishop has ever allowed that.'' Bishop Walter Sullivan, head of the archdiocese of Richmond, let the parish pay a flat fee to a construction management firm to advise them on their choices throughout the building process.
``It takes out the overhead that a construction firm would charge,'' said Shrader. Having the advice of a construction manager protects the congregation from making gross errors. Much of the unskilled labor surrounding the construction project will be provided by members of the church.
Tom Fraim, chairman of the church's finance committee, says the parish could get another benefit from the construction arrangement.
``When you hire a general contractor, when there are savings to be earned as the project continues, he gets it. But this way the parish gets it,'' said Fraim, a Sandbridge resident. ``We're absolutely committed to the fact that we'll bring the project in at a lesser cost than if we had gone with a general contractor. And we'll bring that savings to the parish.''
The parish includes residents in an area from Prosperity Road in the north to the North Carolina line in the south and west to West Neck Creek and North Landing Road.
As construction on the church gets into full swing, its congregation will be celebrating its last holiday season in a temporary location. The altar cloths won't be driven around in parishioners' cars anymore.
Frances Metheny, a member of the altar guild - a group that cares for church linens - will be happy to see the items get a permanent place.
``We've been going to Mass down here since we started meeting in people's living rooms,'' the Sandbridge resident said. ``We're all just thrilled to death. We'll have a church all our own and big enough to have weddings and funerals without borrowing someone else's church.''
Her parish priest shares her feelings.
``It'll be home,'' Shrader said of the new church. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS
Tom Fraim, left, and Father Dwight Shrader examine an architect's
model of St. John the Apostle Catholic Church, which is under
construction on 11.5 wooded acres near the intersection of Princess
Anne and Sandbridge roads.
by CNB