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Monumental faith
By LOGAN D. MABE, Times Staff Writer
LUTZ -- Father Paddy Kennedy stood in awe before the crucifix as workers raised a wooden sculpture of Jesus Christ into place. With opaque sunlight streaming in through the stained glass windows, the most revered icon of the Christian religion had found its home. The parishioners of St. Timothy Catholic Church also have found a new home in the palatial, domed worship center at Lakeshore and Van Dyke roads. The $10-million, 32,000-square-foot church will be dedicated officially Saturday at 5:30 p.m. when the most Rev. Robert N. Lynch of the Diocese of St. Petersburg officially receives the building from representatives of the congregation. He will then consecrate the church, blessing the various sections of the interior with holy water and oils. After the ceremony the bishop gives over the church to the people of St. Timothy. "It will be strange on Sunday morning," Kennedy said. "People will be finding new places to sit." More than 1,400 parishioners and dignitaries are expected for the dedication and liturgy, the last step in an ambitious project to create a new home for the growing church family. "I've been Catholic all my life, but I've never seen a parish like this," said Larry Quigley, 67, who serves on the church communications committee. "Hopefully, the spirit will come into a new building like this. I think the spirit of fun will transfer here." St. Timothy was created as a mission of St. Paul Catholic Church in Carrollwood in the early 1980s. Early congregations gathered first at Claywell Elementary School, then later at Gaither High School before moving to a storefront location. In 1987, the church moved into a multipurpose building on Ragg Road and served the parish for 15 years. In that time, the number of families attending St. Timothy steadily grew from 560 to 1,500. The church now has more than 40 ministries. As part of the transition, parish manager Cindy Vanil said she and a group of volunteers will get together for one more exercise that has become a grand tradition at the church. "We'll have continuity from the old to the new when we close the building and remove all the liturgical items," Vanil said. "Then, typical of St. Tim's, everyone's going to come in the back door and set up chairs." On Tuesday morning as curious visitors toured the church, sculptor Candace Knapp installed the 7-foot-tall wooden statue of Jesus she had created. "It's pretty bold, huh?" Knapp said. "You never know how it's going to look until it's up. It's always sort of a surprise. He's an awfully big guy, isn't he?" Everything about the new facility is big. The octagonal worship hall can hold 1,319 parishioners. Twelve massive granite pillars ring the church interior, symbolizing the apostles. The granite baptismal font at the entrance has constantly flowing water and is centered between two matching reflecting pools outside. "Those are to remind us how, through water, we become children of God, people of God," Father Kennedy said. The two copper domes can be seen easily from the nearby Veterans Expressway, and the larger of the two tops out at 53 feet. Situated on 28 acres of former farmland, the church has a preschool and a separate building for daily operations. In the future church officials plan to build a private school on the property. Meanwhile, parishioners said they are excited and eager to gather at a place where they no longer have to move chairs and rearrange furniture. "We had no permanent pews in the old church," Quigley said. "We'd have all kinds of dances and breakfasts there, so we have to take the chairs down and put the chairs up. We've kidded over the years, 'Man, if we had a nickel for every chair we've moved, we could retire."' -- Logan D. Mabe can be reached at 269-5304 or at mabe@sptimes.com.
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