New family life center for St. Thomas More Parish

IC photo by Marie Mischel

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Bishop John C. Wester blessed St. Thomas More’s new family life center foyer, accompanied by Father David L. Van Massenhove, pastor, and members of the parish.

SANDY — Last year during the groundbreaking for Saint Thomas More Parish’s new addition, Father David L. Van Massenhove, pastor, said, “We cannot invite people to join our parish if we do not have anything for them to do, to grow.”

When he arrived in 2002, the parish had about 870 families; today there are about 1,250, he said in an interview Sunday. “We were holding classes in the chapel and in the rectory. Sometimes when we had a meeting there was no place to go except if we were going to use the church, and we try not to do that. We needed space.”

Now the parish has the space and can freely extend the invitation for people to join. The new two-story family life center boasts a state-of-the-art gymnasium, new offices, two pre-school rooms downstairs and two larger rooms upstairs that each can be divided, as well as two conference rooms. “The conference rooms are for RCIA, Knights of Columbus and Ladies of St. Thomas More; the classrooms are for religious ed and confirmation,” Fr. Van Massenhove said. “The old gym, which was never adequate for basketball, was tile floor and everything else, that is the new hall. That has been completely renovated.”

At the dedication ceremony, the hall was named after the prime mover behind the project, Fr. Van Massenhove said. “One person more than anyone else brought this all about… His name is Bob Meyer.”

Meyer, a St. Thomas More parishioner, was chairman of the building committee and was involved in every step of the construction, Fr. Van Massenhove said. “He took all the pressure off me.”

At the dedication Mass, the Most Rev. John C. Wester, bishop of Salt Lake City, said the new addition “is a great tribute to your generosity, your audacity, your sense of the Lord Jesus residing in your midst of this community.”

His prayer, he said, is that the family life center “will be a center for parish activities, education, and a place where we can come to know one another and give witness to our faith in Christ. Here the young will learn of the Catholic faith and adults will deepen their commitment to live as Christ has taught us. We pray that the word of God may always echo from its walls.”

Likewise, Gene Avilla, president of Parish Council, said the parish’s goal for the center is for it “to be the location of many happy celebrations that will create wonderful memories as well as provide the nerve center for the day-to-day operations of the parish. ... The dream of having a new expanded parish center has been fulfilled. Through dedication, commitment and hard work this parish center was built. If we had the entire afternoon we could possibly name each and every person who contributed to the success of the project, but that’s not possible. In many ways each of you has worked toward seeing this building become a reality and you did so because of a caring heart. We know that those who donated time, money, talent did not do so for recognition, it was the kindness and generosity that helped build the parish center.

“We dedicate this parish center to those who have made St. Thomas More their parish throughout the years,” Avilla continued, “and to the angels without halos or wings who carried this on their shoulders to see this project through and to our loving God, who has wonderfully blessed this community.”