By Marnie McAllister, Record Editor
Holy Family Church on Poplar Level Road is bracing for big changes in the coming year.
The Archdiocese of Louisville plans to turn part of the property — the former school building and childcare center — into the new Archdiocese of
Louisville Pastoral Center. The center will replace the current Chancery on College Street in downtown Louisville as the headquarters of the archdiocese.
Holy Family, a spiritual home to about 600 registered households, will continue to operate as always. The church building, the Saffin Center and the rectory will remain parish property. The picnic and fish fries will go on as usual — though parishioners will have to cope with construction for the next year or so.
Dr. Brian B. Reynolds, chancellor and chief administrative officer of the archdiocese, discussed the plans with Holy Family parishioners after the 10 a.m. Mass on Nov. 1. He told parishioners that the archbishop is looking forward to centering the archdiocese’s headquarters within the life of a parish.
“He believes very strongly that the archdiocese’s headquarters building ought to be located in an active parish,” Reynolds said. “The whole reason a diocese exists is to help parishes. So, we wanted to become part
of one. The archdiocese wants to invest in you and see the vibrancy here grow.”
The archdiocese has selected City Properties Group as the architect and is selecting a design-build contractor to oversee the construction, he said.
Holy Family’s parish council president Jackie Mudd said accepting the archdiocese’s proposal — which included $2 million dollars to help the parish pay off its church building — was a “no brainer.”
She and the rest of the parish council have met with Reynolds four or five times in the last year, discussing an agreement.
“I think most people wanted the buildings to be used,” said Mudd of the former school and childcare center, which was previously the convent.
“And then it was kind of a no brainer. It’s really helped offset quite a bit of the debt we incurred building this church,” which was dedicated in 1997.
The school closed in May of 2014 after a gradual decline in enrollment. At the time, some parishioners said it was heartbreaking, others felt anger when the 91-year-old school closed its doors.
Jim Gadlage, a member of the parish council and a parishioner of 41 years, said the latest changes bring a silver lining to a tough situation.
“It’s kind of like we had lemons and we made lemonade,” he said. “We had to close the school.”
For Mudd, the proposal from the archdiocese also was the answer to many prayers.
Mudd has three young children and another one on the way. She was disappointed and frustrated when the school closed, she said. Soon after, she and other parishioners began meeting monthly to pray at the Little Sisters of the Poor Chapel — just a mile or two from the parish.
“We were looking for direction and (wondering), where do we place this anger, this frustration,” she said. “One thing we were focused on was the transformative power of prayer.”
Now, Mudd said, “It feels like God listened to us; it feels like the archdiocese listened to us and all of a sudden, we have options again. We have ideas and hope and all of that good stuff.”
Mudd noted that the parish’s various groups and committees have grown closer as a by product of the many necessary conversations brought about by the planning process.
“It’s done nothing but improve parish life,” she said.
Reynolds said the benefits will be mutual — the move will save the archdiocese money and make its headquarters more accessible.
The Holy Family campus, located close to I-264 and I-65, would be more accessible to those both in Jefferson County and those in the other 23 counties of the archdiocese, he said.
Construction to replace the former childcare building will begin in December. The former school’s entrance will be preserved and interior renovations of that space will begin in the new year.
The work is tentatively expected to be complete by January of 2017, though there are still variables that could change the time line. More details about the pastoral center are expected to be available before the end of the year, Reynolds said.
