Potential Holy Cross move stuns parishioners; FW Diocese plans to relocate church to Frisco

A recent announcement that Holy Cross Catholic Church in The Colony will move to Frisco has come as a surprise to many in the tight-knit congregation. Church members said that they believed plans and funding to renovate and expand the church’s facilities at Morning Star Drive and North Colony Boulevard rooted its future to that location.

Approximately 100 parishioners from Holy Cross turned out for a town hall-style meeting Oct. 8 to discuss the future of the church and the parish.

Throughout masses Oct. 4-5, it was announced that the church will relocate to a purchased property at the intersection of Teel Parkway and Lebanon Road in Frisco in approximately three to six years. The Fort Worth Diocese has approved the move to a more central location in order to better serve the needs of the whole parish, which extends throughout eastern Denton County.

The new property also is considerably larger than where the church meets now, and would accommodate future growth in the parish as new residents move to the cities between The Colony and Denton, as well as west Frisco.

But the move stunned many parishioners from The Colony who have been with the church for decades, and who have helped it grow from humble beginnings in the 1970s into the facility it now occupies.

Father J. Michael Holmberg said the meeting was scheduled as a result of the announcement, because officials knew there would be people who wanted to share their thoughts and feelings. He opened the forum by providing a brief history of recent events at the church.

An ad hoc committee of approximately 20 parish members was formed in October 2007 to review issues regarding the facilities and the spirit of evangelism in the parish, Holmberg said.

“They looked at all those issues and things we were doing and things we weren’t doing. They looked at our facilities, and how our facilities can help us accomplish our task of bringing Jesus to our parish,” Holmberg said.

The committee came up with two options it presented to Bishop Kevin Vann of the Fort Worth Diocese. One was to modify the parish boundaries to the northern city limits of The Colony, and the second option was to relocate to a geographic position that would be more central to the demographics of the parish. Vann elected to move the church.

“The decision has been made. This is what we’re doing. It came from the people of this parish,” Holmberg said.

Before taking questions from the audience, diocese chief financial officer Peter Flynn provided additional background. Flynn said he has been aware of issues regarding Holy Cross Parish since the ad hoc committee first came to the bishop.

Flynn pointed out that the diocese serves more than 75,000 families, and that for the past two years Vann has been engaged in “strategic planning to determine the needs of the diocese going forward,” and that a number of outside studies have been conducted to help shape the decision-making process.

“He has a number of challenges that preclude him from being able to address everything quickly and maybe the way he would like,” Flynn said of Vann’s efforts. “One of the biggest challenges is the lack of sufficient priests. We presently have two parishes that do not have a resident priest. We literally have had open parishes over the last two to three years with no one serving for between six months to a year and a half.”

Looking at the demographic shifts, “without a doubt, the biggest changes have happened in Denton County. We’ve been watching the reality of Denton County for a long time. The long-range strategic initiative that we have to deal with today is not only dealing with the populations presently in place but the projections of what’s going to happen in the next five to 10 years,” Flynn explained.

When Holmberg took over the parish from 12-year pastor Father Publius Xuereb in August 2007, he began conversations with the leadership team in The Colony, and the leadership team wanted to meet with the bishop to share what they saw as the needs of the church, Flynn said.

“It was a very clear direction from the leadership team at Holy Cross that the best scenario was to look at relocating Holy Cross,” he said. “The day will be here some day when there are two parishes between here and Denton. Whether that’s 10, 20, or 25 years from now, I can’t say. The number of rooftops that are projected will someday demand there be two. But how we address the short-term need was really the issue on the table.”

The diocese began looking at property options, and secured and purchased a site at Teel and Lebanon for the new parish. Flynn said that, in the past, a good-sized parish plot was eight to 10 acres, but that now every piece of property has to be big enough to handle educational facilities in addition to worship space.

“We don’t even look at property below 25 acres,” he said.

Jay Dalbo, a member of the church since 1979, said he was concerned that an ad hoc committee had been charged with determining the church’s options without input from parishioners who feel they’ve built the church from the ground up.

“I feel very hurt and upset that what we built - the seeds of faith that we planted - are being taken away from the people of The Colony,” he said. “We have been deceived. This has been going on with this group of 20 that no one knew anything about. That’s an insult to the people who built this parish. Obviously it’s not good enough, but it’s good enough for us.”

Chris Clark, a member since 2001, wanted to know about the church’s financial situation, and where money raised for new pews and renovations was being spent now that the decision has been made to move the church. The renovations were to include two additional phases of the church’s development, a new sanctuary and educational facility, with the current sanctuary converted into a great hall.

“A couple years ago, we started raising money to expand and renovate this church. Most of us here were very glad to offer their money,” Clark said. “When we got confused was when we thought the renovation was going to be a blowout. We saw the plans on the wall and everybody got excited. But then recently, the other announcement was we’re not going to renovate the church. We’re just going to band-aid it up and put on new paint. We were already upset about that because we were excited about seeing the new church.

“And now we’re moving the church. My question is, the money that all of us have donated to the church for the big renovations, for the pews, and everything else ... where’s that money and how much of that was spent here to do what we did?”

Holmberg replied that plans for renovations, though paid for, were never approved by the bishop, and that most of the money was still in the church’s coffers.

“I can’t answer any questions about what happened or what was said prior to Aug. 1 of last summer,” he said. “(But) there was a significant amount of money raised, (approximately $1.3 million). When I came here, there were renovation plans there. I’m going to be very honest in my answer. I was looking at the plans with the construction manager of the diocese, and I asked if the bishop approved these plans. The bishop had never approved the plans ... and the bishop advised me that we couldn’t do what had been drawn up. And that’s when we stopped the process.”

Of the money raised, Holmberg said $130,000 was spent on the plans while $140,000 was raised for new pews, all of which was merged with the renovation fund-raising and money not specifically raised for renovations but equal to about 25 percent of the Sunday collections set aside the past eight years.

Approximately $110,000 was spent on recent remodeling, leaving about $900,000. “Basically the money left over is paid from Sunday collections and set aside in savings for our building project,” he said.

The new pews were scheduled to arrive Sept. 15 but will now be at the church by Christmas, said Holmberg, who later in the meeting added that the pews would be transferrable to the new facility in Frisco when the time comes.

David Hundt, who along with his wife, Mary, has been a member of the parish since its inception, was unhappy with the channels of communication.

“I’m a little bit concerned that this forum is being held after the decision was made. I would have thought the ad hoc committee would have solicited input from the parish before a recommendation was made to the bishop. I think we’re doing it backwards,” he said. “I'm not happy about the move, but I understand the reasons for it.”

Hundt added that the parish members had worked hard over the years to eliminate the debt for their church, and “it was a great relief to get out of debt but now it sounds like we’ve got more debt coming up,” he said.

Holmberg then took the opportunity to remind parishioners about the geographic reality of their parish.

“I can understand the concerns of those who think this is the parish of The Colony,” he said. “But since 1981, this has been the parish of Little Elm, west Frisco, Plano, Carrollton, Lewisville, Oak Point, Cross Roads, and Denton. That is nothing new. By chance of location, the facilities were located in the city of The Colony. That’s where people lived in 1981.”

Normally, these types of decisions regarding future growth in a parish come from a pastoral advisory council and a finance advisory council, which are two non-representative committees required by diocese law to be formed within each parish, Holmberg said.

Neither of these committees existed at the parish until they were installed this year, he said. “But there were decisions that really had to be made, so I asked some people to set up this ad hoc committee that would function in their stead to give advice to the bishop. Those systems were not in place, so we went another route.”

Ruth Pinchot was concerned about what she sees as a lack of oversight that has led to the current situation.

“I would like to know why this parish was allowed to not have a functioning finance council or pastoral council,” Pinchot said. “Someone somewhere should have been paying attention and knowing what’s going on.”

Flynn replied by explaining the reporting structure within the diocese, and about how diocese officials rely on parish pastors to keep them informed.

“When a pastor is appointed, he has certain rights and responsibilities locally. The bishop provides guidelines and requests that certain things take place. Whether or not they actually take place - they might be reported to the bishop, the bishop may be aware of them, how he moves on them and what he does - frankly is not for me to say,” Flynn said. “Was the bishop informed? Our main means of communication is through the pastor. We ask the pastor questions, the pastor provides information, provides reports. Sometimes, when a pastor changes, a new pastor comes in and finds that maybe things aren’t quite the way it was reported previously.”

Church member Steve Parsons expressed frustration, and highlighted the effort local members have put in to building the church as it is now.

“I realize this church is the property of the diocese, and the diocese can do whatever they feel like doing with it, and no one has any say in it whatsoever,” he said. “But I believe there’s something the diocese has forgotten about. This parish was built by these people right here and their money. The diocese did not build this church. We paid for it.” Parsons added that he and his family won’t continue donating money to the parish.

Flynn then sought to clarify the church’s financial situation. “The reality is that this parish was not able to pay its debt. The diocese has put well over $1.5 million, almost $2 million into this parish by not charging interest on the loan, and by picking up and forgiving part of the loan over the years,” he said. “The diocese, in fact, is the responsibility of the bishop ... (and he) made these decisions based upon advice he received from the parish and parish leadership. He did not make this decision unilaterally. He supports the parish and is very grateful for the generosity of the people. This parish struggled for years and persevered to pay down the principal that was left on this facility, and you are to be commended and praised for doing that.”

Parishioner Kim Proctor, fighting back tears, spoke in support of the move.

“I am embracing this move. When I heard the news it was a surprise to me, too. I was saddened by it, and sad to hear it the way it was presented,” she said. “But I prayed about it, and I am embracing this move. I think it’s an exciting part (of the church’s history), and I wish all of you would stop and think and pray about it, and let’s move as an entire family, because that’s what we are here. We’ve been together a long time.”

Proctor asked those in attendance to move beyond the past and instead look ahead to a brighter future. Although there may have been concerns about previous administrative oversight, “I am thankful that we’ve got someone stepping up our programs ... things we’ve been needing for years now. I’m thankful and looking forward to the move, and I hope you guys do, too.”

Like Proctor, several other church members spoke in support of the move, pointing out that a church is not about the building, but the people that make up the church community.

Members of the ad hoc committee spoke at the meeeting as well, saying they were simply attempting to do what was in the best interests of the parish, and that they never intended to deceive anyone.

Committee member Noel Long said that it was time for the church to move beyond its humble beginnings and accept its financial reality and spiritual responsibilities.

“We got off to a rocky start when we designed this church. It was supposed to be a much more versatile building than we put here. We were going to use the building to help pay the funds off. We haven’t paid this off until recently, and we had to get almost $2 million,” Long said. “We, as a homey little church, can’t make the money. You can like it all you want, but we haven’t made the grade. It just hasn’t happened. Our playground out here is in ruins, this stuff isn’t working here folks. We need to get off our butts and get back into the ecumenical, universal type of church it’s supposed to be.”

Father Xuereb traveled to Rome for a sabbatical after leaving Holy Cross last year. He is now living in Corpus Christi awaiting full-time assignment to a parish while serving as a substitute pastor as needed.

He declined to comment on the meeting, but he stood by his 40 years of service to the diocese.

“No matter what you do (as a parish pastor) you’re criticized,” Xuereb said. “[Each pastor has] their own way of doing things, as long as it’s being done right.”

He said he has nothing but fond memories of his years at Holy Cross and that he loved and cared for the parishioners. He believes his record and the standing of the church speak for themselves.

“The facts say that I was very successful,” he said, pointing out that when he arrived the church was in debt but when he left it wasn’t. “If I was not successful as a pastor, would there be a need for growth?”

He also sympathized with those parishioners who are unhappy about plans to move the facility.

“I understand the things they’re going through. It’s their home, a small family church. Hopefully the move will be for the better,” he said.

Current Rating: 0 of 0 votes!

Rate File: Select Rating: * ** *** ****

 Plano Apartments
 Plano Attorneys
 Plano Auto Dealers
 Plano Auto Parts
 Plano Auto Repair
 Plano Beauty Salons
 Plano Car Rental
 Plano Dentists
 Plano Doctors
 Plano Flowers
 Plano Hotels
 Plano Insurance
 Plano Loans
 Plano Mortgages
 Plano Movers
 Plano Pizza
 Plano Realtors
 Plano Restaurants
 Plano Storage
 Plano Tax Preparation
 Plano Travel
 Featured
 More...