With meteoric growth the past decade or so, the congregation of Russellville's Good Shepherd Catholic Church needed a church building well beyond the old 175-person church capacity.
Along with some private donors, the Good Shepherd membership responded to that need and the result is a beautiful new church building that can house up to 500 people for a service. The new church was a $3 million project and according to Good Shepherd Catholic Church's Very Rev. Vincent Bresowar, the new building was paid for before it was formally dedicated last Saturday, October 28th.
“Yes, it is paid for,” Bresowar said. “We did a lot of events and fund raising, including food festivals. We also went out and were able to solicit donors from the community and from various parts of our diocese.”
Saturday's dedication service was a major event for the church, and is a prerequisite under Catholic doctrine before a new church can be used for services.
There was a procession from the old building to the new church, where the Bishop received a key to the new church.
“He consecrates it, blesses it and there's a long ceremony after that,” Bresowar said. “After that, we have mariachi music, dancing and food. It's like a festival afterwards.
“This is a big day and a great day of celebration. It only happens when you build a new church, so it's a special day,” he added.
Up until this week, the church held four services each weekend, three in Spanish and one English service.
“We regularly have approximately 1,200 at mass every weekend,” Bresowar said.
The new church will allow him to cut down on the number of services as seating capacity is three times that of the old building. Construction began in October 2021 and was completed in two years, not a bad time frame for a project in the COVID-19 era.
When Bresowar came to Good Shepherd eight-and-a-half years ago from Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Huntsville, a new building wasn't something he thought about. But that soon changed.
“Around five years ago we really came to the understanding that (a new church) had to happen for this community because it just keeps growing,” Bresowar said.
The growth speaks well of the church staff, which includes Jazmin Ambrosio (Parish Secretary) and Flor Solorzano (Director of Religious Education). And it's been noticed by city leaders and residents.
“It's a blessing for them to have a bigger church to help their growing congregation,” said Russellville City Councilman Darren Woodruff. “I also salute their outreach program and the amount of people they help each week in our community.”
The church's outreach program Woodruff referenced meets needs of those in need. That includes basic needs like food and clothing, as well as payment of delinquent utility bills. It's funded completely by Good Shepherd's congregation. The outreach program is available at the church from 10-noon each Monday.
“They are very good at gathering resources when it needs to be done to help people. We fund raise in a lot of unique ways,” Bresowar said. “Soccer, food festivals, raffles, good sales. It's not just giving on the collection plate. There are a lot of ways to fund raise and create a sense of community.
“It takes a lot of volunteers and people willing to help. Those are the good things. Like every church, we have our own issues too. But it's going pretty well and we're trying to do what the Lord is asking us to do here,” he added.
A 1998 graduate of Homewood High School and a former Auburn University student and an Air Force veteran, Bresowar might have seemed an unlikely candidate to lead the largest church in Franklin County, particularly one with a 95% Hispanic membership.
Good Shepherd's congregation includes members from Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras and more Central American countries. It's Franklin County's only Catholic church. Bresowar said Colbert County has one and Lauderdale County two.
“We could use more than one here. We have an influx of migrants who keep coming and most of them come here from Catholic origin,” Bresowar said.
“Church is a place where you can come when you're dealing with hurt and there is a lot of hurting here. You can come here, not be judged and be a part of something positive and that's what we're trying to do—set up a place where people come and feel like they have a home,” he added.
And one look at the beautiful new building evidences that what Good Shepherd members and staff are doing is working well.
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