Good Shepherd in Colleyville plans parish hall

Good Shepherd Catholic Community hosted a Breaking Bread Potluck lunch on Sunday to announce parish plans to break ground for a parish life building.

The Parish Life Center “will serve our growing parish of over 3,000 families,” said Sarah Luter, parish spokesperson.

Bishop Michael Olson of the Fort Worth Diocese presided at Mass and participated with the pastor, the Rev. Richard Eldredge; Parochial Vicar Jonathan McElhone; architect Jim Bransford and other parishioners in a ceremonial groundbreaking.

“Growth is not just about numbers, families or buildings,” Eldredge said of the nearly 25-year-old parish. “Our mission is evangelization, discipleship and stewardship in the name of Jesus. Our vision is Living the Gospel and Building the Kingdom of God.”

Eldredge said the Pastoral Advisory Council’s input was instrumental in planning the center.

“I asked the council, ‘How is the best way to present this to the parish?’ ” Eldredge said.

The pastor told them, “Give me the best way to tell the parish about the need.’ ”

Through talks to the parish and bulletin postings, the message Eldredge wanted to convey to the parish about the center was accomplished.

“In six months, we were able to make sure we had half of the funds needed for the project,” he said. “This was $3 million between July 1 and Dec. 31 in 2014. We were able to do it.”

The pastor said the new center will address a lack of meeting space for religious education and other parish ministries and functions.

“Initially, it will be providing the classroom space for faith formation for both our youth and adults,” said Russ Overby, who oversees the maintenance of the parish facilities. “Our classes are full, we have to have waiting lists, so we should be able to expand our faith formation programs for our youth and for adults, and provide for the needs of both groups.”

The need for additional space was identified through focus group sessions. Since then, the parish has been planning and conducting the preliminary work to meet those needs.

The center will be a two-story structure with approximately 30,000 square feet of classrooms, offices and large meeting rooms.

The project should take about a year to complete.

With the completion of the Parish Life Center, Good Shepherd parish families can look forward to an expansion of the existing faith formation programs for youth and continuing education programs for adults.

“I would hope that there will be additional programs, additional classroom activity and hopefully increasing participation in both the youth and the adult programs,” Overby said. “That’s what we’re really hoping for with this space.”

Luter said the center will cost $6 million and $4 million has been raised through their “By God we can do it” campaign.

“It’s been well-received by our parishioners.” Overby said. “We had no problem in meeting the initial deadlines we placed upon ourselves. The parish in general is very supportive behind the project. There’s really a need. We’re busting the seams trying to get meeting space and education space. This building facility will help greatly with that.”

This story was originally published August 18, 2015 at 11:19 AM with the headline "Good Shepherd in Colleyville plans parish hall."