St. Stephen Launches Campaign to Build New Church

It's an ambitious goal during a tough economy.

Nevertheless, in just four months St. Stephen Catholic Church in Valrico has raised more than $4 million of its $6 million goal to build a new 1,600-seat church on its Boyette Road property in front of St. Stephen Catholic School, a church twice the size of the existing facility.

"This is an epic moment in our church's history," said St. Stephen pastor, the Rev. William Swengros. "We must expand. Our attendance averages 4,000 people each weekend, and it's standing room-only at some Masses.We desperately need more space to conduct necessary parish activities. Our ministries conduct more than 5,000 meetings annually and we do not have additional growth capacity."

A building committee consisting of parish members has spent the past two years designing a new 38,000-square-foot church on the Boyette property that is large enough to accommodate the burgeoning parish but economical enough to afford. When completed, it will be the largest church in the Diocese of St. Petersburg.

"We're at the stage now where we're looking at finishing touches," said Swengros during a montlhy pastor's coffees at the church.

The church has hired national professional fundraiser CCS to help raise the $6 million. The remainder of the $14 million for the new church and parish center will come from the sale of the existing church property at 5049 Bell Shoals Road and a low-interest loan.

Surveys have shown the parish is in favor of building a new church. Swengros hopes all 4,200 families in the parish will be willing to make a "sacrificial gift" to help build it.

"My hope and prayer is, at the end of the day, every parishioner will be asked," he said. "It's been going very well so far. It's been a faith-building experience for me to see so many people willing to give. I'm sure we'll meet our goal."

Following a series of meetings with parishioners, the building committee and architect Rick Swisher of Orlando have designed a church in the Spanish mission style with an anondized aluminum dome on top, a tile roof and bell towers on either side.

*The building committee would like to purchase used church bells and stained glass from St. Casimir Catholic Church in Cleveland, one of 28 churches in the Cleveland Catholic Diocese that was forced to close due to lack of parishioners. However, that closure is under appeal to the Vatican and nothing can be sold pending the outcome of that appeal.

The new church will include meeting rooms, a wake room, a lending library, a bridal room and a family restroom for parents with small children.

A baptismal font at the entrance to the church would be elevated and heated for immersion baptisms.

The architect has designed a mission-style reredos with massive columns behind the stone altar and ambo where the crucifix will hang and the church's tabernacle will sit behind a screen. Ten- and 12-foot video screens will flank either side of the reredos.

To save money, the building committee opted for concrete flooring with carpet as opposed to marble floors.

The 19,000-square-foot youth center, which will be built simultaneously, will temporarily house church offices, meeting rooms, a kitchen and cafeteria for the school children. It also will be able to seat 1.000 people on holidays when the church can't accommodate all who want to attend.

When the parish raises enough money, it will build another parish center and convert the existing space into a youth center with a gymnasium.

Swengros hope to break ground on the new church in January.

"It's not about building a church," he told parishioners on Holy Thursday. "It's about building a faith community."

St. Stephen Catholic Church was founded as a mission of Nativity Catholic Church in 1987 and originally held Masses in the storefront at 4430 Bell Shoals Road now occupied by Beef O' Brady's. Twenty years ago, the church had just 1,285 registered families.

Editor's Note: D'Ann White is an active member of St. Stephen Catholic Church. 

* It should be noted that the closure of St. Casimir Catholic Church in Cleveland by the Diocese of Cleveland is currently under appeal to the Vatican. Although St. Stephen has expressed an interest in purchasing stained-glass windows from the church, nothing can be sold pending a ruling on the appeal. According to Robert Tayek, director of media and public relations for the Diocese of Cleveland, if items are sold from the church, they will be sold for fair market value.