With a vision of providing sacred space for all generations of a growing faith community, Divine Savior Parish in Orangevale unveiled its new multipurpose building.

During the opening celebration for the new building Feb. 23, Auxiliary Bishop Richard J. Garcia was present for blessing and ribbon-cutting ceremonies. He was assisted by Salvatorian Fathers Tom Tureman, former pastor of Divine Savior, and Roman Mueller, the parish’s current pastor.

The 25,000-square-foot building contains parish offices, a gymnasium, a large meeting hall, and a commercial kitchen for receptions, meetings and special events.

The contractor for the project was Carmichael Construction, with design by Comstock Johnson Architects, Inc. in Sacramento.

Contributions from parishioners and to the diocese’s 2002 capital campaign funded the $4.5 million project.

Established in 1987, Divine Savior Parish, which dedicated a new church building in 2000, views the new multipurpose facility as a crucial step in achieving its goal to provide space for key elements of parish life.

The building includes a gymnasium adaptable to both sports and social activities, a youth room exclusively for teen and young adults, a health center providing counseling services and a parish nurse, and a library featuring a special children’s section.

“This is really about community development,” said Father Mueller.

He emphasized that a significant part of the parish’s vision of community building was enabling parishioners to have as much space as possible for religious education for adults and children.

John Groce, pastoral associate, sees tremendous opportunities to build an entire community catechesis program that includes pre-school and elementary school children, teens and adults, as well as classes for the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) and bible study groups.

“Families will come together for religious education in one place at the same time,” he said. “It gives us an opportunity for us to pray, learn and eat together.”

Maree Turrell, whose family includes children ages 20, 15 and 8, said she is excited that everyone will now have classroom space designed for specifically for religious education.

“When our (temporary) church was taken down, religious education had to be held in the narthex of the new church all day Sunday,” Turrell said.

A member of the parish’s RCIA team and chairwoman of the welcoming committee, Turrell sees the new building making a significant impact on newcomers.

“People will really get to know what our church has to offer them when then come to our welcoming dinners,” she said.

Among activities planned to introduce the new building to the community are an art show, a seniors’ event, a dance, children’s crafts and readers’ theater, and a family treasure quest and dinner.

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