Putting down roots
By: Brenda Suderman | Winnipeg Free Press
In an area dominated by big-box retailers and other commercial development, Mark Fouad has dreams of domes reminiscent of his homeland rising above them all.
"First we're going to build a small place to pray and then we're going to expand to the whole centre," the Egyptian-born Fouad says of the multmillion-dollar Coptic Centre now in the planning stages for an 11-acre site along McGillivray Boulevard.
The recent purchase of land by the members of St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church is the latest property acquired for future church development in southwest Winnipeg. Three other congregations own land along McGillivray Boulevard, just west of the huge retail development on Kenaston Boulevard. Total development by the four Christian churches could easily top $25 million.
Signs mark the future locations of St. Gianna Roman Catholic parish and Trinity Presbyterian Church on the southwest corner of McGillivray and Columbia Drive, just beside the multiplex movie theatre Cinema City. On the north side of McGillivray, just west of Costco, Whyte Ridge Baptist Church, now located on Scurfield Boulevard, owns 14 acres of land, stretching all the way to the southeast boundary of FortWhyte Alive.
Owning the land, and indeed installing a sign to that effect, indicates a presence in the community but doesn't mean construction is imminent, explains Rev. Darrin Gurr of St. Gianna's, which now rents space for weekend masses at the nearby Winnipeg Technical College on Henlow Bay.
"We have two goals here: growing the new parish and building the church. We can't build the church without growing the parish," explains Gurr of the newest congregation in the Archdiocese of Winnipeg. "I think one of the things people have to understand is building a church and growing a parish isn't like building a (restaurant) franchise. They (churches) don't just drop out of the sky."
The 400 families in the four-year-old parish have already been approached to commit funds for the proposed $14-million church building, and about one-quarter of the money has been raised, says Gurr.
Right now, the details of the building are being worked out, with plans including a circular worship space for 675, a banquet hall, library, meeting rooms and a shrine to St. Gianna, the patron saint of the parish.
A permanent home for the Presbyterians is still at least two years away, says Rev. Matthew Brough, pastor of the two-year-old congregation numbering about 65 people. Since May, the church has been holding Sunday morning worship services at Cinema City and meeting in other rented facilities or private homes during the week.
"It works out really well. You've got built-in seating and a great screen to project what we want to project," he says of how his congregation has adapted to the theatre setting. The church even handed out insulated coffee mugs without handles to fit into the cup-holders.
Although Whyte Ridge Baptist Church has owned land on McGillivray for many years, it has no firm plans to build on that site and relocate from its current 20-year-old building on Scurfield Boulevard, says Rev. Doug Friesen, pastor of student ministries.
"This is the community we're already a part of," he says, adding the congregation is now undergoing internal challenges that have put building plans on hold. "This is just the expansion of the focus of our ministry."
Plans for the Coptic Centre are moving faster than the others. Now meeting in a former Lutheran church on Pembina Highway, the congregation of 120 families has outgrown its facilities and hopes to have final plans ready by the time they take possession of the property in April.
"What we're doing right now is seeking the congregation's input on a wish list. Then we'll put in a request for proposal." says Fouad, a certified general accountant who serves on the church board.
First on the list is constructing a worship space, and then as more funds are raised, a community centre for the growing Coptic community in Winnipeg. Fouad says the architecture will be typically Coptic, with multiple domes, and the footprint of the building shaped like a cross.
Despite the black clouds on the economic front, Fouad is confident his congregation will raise the estimated $5 to 8 million needed for a new spiritual home.
"This is the church and in hard times people go back to the church," he says.
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Groups look to Waverley West
DISCUSSIONS are underway for a religious development in the city's newest residential development, with at least two church groups interested in purchasing land there, says a Manitoba Housing official.
"We have received interest from a couple of church organizations wanting to purchase land in Waverley West. No transactions have taken place so far," says Dwayne Rewniak, director of housing development for Manitoba Housing.
One of those groups is made up of Anglicans, Lutheran and United Church representatives, who have been discussing how best to establish a Christian presence in the development of 11,000 homes, apartments and complexes, says Rev. Jennifer Sisson, an Anglican priest at Church of The Good Shepherd in Fort Richmond.
"The intent is as people move in, we can meet people and get a sense of where their needs are, get to know them, and offer them a small group experience," she says.
Sisson said her group has sent a letter of intent to Manitoba Housing. In the meantime, her group is concentrating on developing possible leaders for any future church for this new development in southwest Winnipeg.
"What we're doing is building a community (and) relationships. The building itself is much farther down the road," she says, adding no decisions have been made if the church would be one congregation including several denominations, or several congregations meeting in one jointly owned building.
Rewniak says any religious groups wanting to purchase property will have to wait several years for the development of the second phase, scheduled for 2012. Houses are now under construction in the first phase, and the first families moved in a few months ago, he says.
St. Gianna’s Roman Catholic Church - Linden Woods
Source:
http://stgianna.ca/content/view/12/14/
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