Milwaukee Catholic Herald

A place to worship for 16,000 parishioners

Fond du Lac community breaks ground for church

By Cheri Perkins Mantz
Catholic Herald Staff

Fr. Dennis Budka, a member of the pastoral team at Holy Family Parish in Fond du Lac, blesses holy water and invites guests to take a branch, dip it in the water and bless the ground. Groundbreaking for the new Holy Family Church took place July 16. (Catholic Herald photo by Sam Lucero)

FOND DU LAC — A parish process that has taken more than 12 years, involved six parishes and 16,000 parishioners reached a milestone July 16 when Holy Family Parish broke ground for a church. Pastors and parishioners blessed the ground during the ceremony, which parishioners expect will culminate with the opening of the church in fall 2007.

Holy Family Parish was officially formed July 1, 2000. Currently the parish consists of four sites, St. Peter, St. Mary, Sacred Heart and St. Joseph. St. Patrick and St. Louis have closed to make room for the new church. St. Joseph is also scheduled to close before the new building opens. In fact, some of the stained glass windows from St. Joseph will be used in the new church.

Fr. Dennis Budka, one of four priests who serves on the Holy Family team, acknowledged the project has been challenging because of the loss some parishioners feel when their home parish closes.

“Yes, of course there will be some who don’t view it in a positive light, especially when the church you grew up in has to close,” said Fr. Budka. “Some are still grieving, others feel very excited about the direction in which we’re going. A reflection of support for this project is that we have a five-year capital campaign and already raised a significant amount of money in the last year.”

Members of Holy Family Parish in Fond du Lac dip branches into water before blessing the ground on which the new Holy Family Church will be built. The new worship site will consolidate the four present sites that make up Holy Family Parish. Groundbreaking for the new church took place Sunday, July 16. (Catholic Herald photo by Sam Lucero)

Of the $9,461,000 goal, $5 million has been raised in the last year.

“That’s looking very good for us and I think it’s a reflection of the support in the community,” said Fr. Budka.

Another way parishioners are showing their support for the parish is through volunteering, said Fr. Budka.

“We have hundreds of volunteers in jail ministry, for example,” he said. “A lot of people in the parish are involved as volunteers and that shows their support.”

Once completed, the new Holy Family church will have a permanent seating capacity of 1,250. When the new church is built, the three other parish sites will keep their current names, with “Holy Family” added at the end. The new church’s name is yet to be determined.

Fr. Patrick Heppe, priest team moderator at Holy Family Parish in Fond du Lac, uses a snow shovel to break ground for the new Holy Family Church. A groundbreaking ceremony took place at the new church site July 16. (Catholic Herald photo by Sam Lucero)

Fr. Budka is optimistic about the future of Holy Family Parish.

“It’s very exciting,” he said of the current status. “It’s been one of the joys of ministry of seeing this plan come to fruition. We use the plans of other parishes to carry on the mission of Holy Family. In a way we can do things we couldn’t do as separate parishes like combining the ministry of social justice. I think the merger has really made us stronger.”