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In July 2001, Fr. Ray Burger was reassigned to Holy Family Church in Eudora, after thirteen years as Holy Trinity’s Pastor. Fr. Bob Pflumm, retired priest in residence, transferred to St. Michael’s in Leawood, KS. They were succeeded by Fr. Tom Dolezal, coming from St. Michael’s Parish in Axtell, where he spent 15 years as pastor. Fr. Tom was joined by Fr. Bala Swamy, a missionary priest from India, who stayed for two years until his reassignment to St. Mary’s, KS, in June 2003. Fr. Richard Osei Bempah, a missionary priest from Ghana, was assigned as associate pastor to Holy Trinity in July 2003 for one year.
In April 2005, Fr. Regie Saldanha, a missionary priest from the diocese of New Guinea, where he served for 6 years, joined our staff as Associate Pastor. He was born and raised in India. In 2008 he was installed as a permanent priest for the Archdiocese of Kansas City.
Ground breaking for Phase One was celebrated in 2006 on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, the 10 th Anniversary of the dedication of the new church, with participation by various members of the community who would directly benefit from this new facility. Participants included 3- to 5-year-old children from our Early Education Center (complete with small shovels and hardhats), teachers & families from our Catechesis of the Good Shepherd ministry, high school students, young adults, members of parish ministries & organizations and building committee members. A complimentary breakfast was held in the Parish Center for the entire parish.
Construction began on the 40,000+ square-foot Fr. Quigley Faith Formation Center in April 2007. The Center was dedicated and blessed by Archbishop Naumann on Saturday, May 17, 2008. During the dedication, crucifixes for the various rooms and spaces were blessed and placed on the walls of the new facility.
Upon completion of the new Center, the former Children’s Center building, which was built in 1967 and was also home to the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program, was torn down to make way for the second half of Phase One, the Perpetual Adoration Chapel. Before tearing down the building, the Lenexa Fire and Police forces used it to practice various life safety and protection training exercises for several weeks. After the Saturday morning Mass on Memorial Day weekend, Fr. Tom held a “de-commissioning” prayer service for many members who had worked at the facility and saw it as part of our landscape for 40+ years.
In October 2008, Fr. Regie was reassigned to serve as pastor of three small parishes in Miami County. With his departure, Fr. Richard McDonald was assigned to assist as a transition until formal assignments in June 2009.
The new Perpetual Adoration Chapel, on the north end of the Fr. Quigley Center, is located at the center of our parish “campus” by design, since the Eucharist is central to our faith. It features seating for 40 patrons, eight custom-built stained-glass windows featuring the seven corporal works of mercy and a Eucharistic theme, a large stained-glass cross on the front wall, stations of the cross, electric votive candles, statues, 24/7 access and dedicated parking on the north. Members of the parish built the chapel furnishings. The altar and stand and holy water font were built from oak wood salvaged from the former Worship Center altar (1975) and stained-glass window trim (still visible from outside the Parish Center.) The pews were completely refurbished after being donated by Holy Spirit parish in Overland Park as they had purchased new pews when remodeling their sanctuary. A small meditation garden is located on the east side of the chapel, named in honor of former pastor Fr. Jim Wright, who enjoyed gardening.
The chapel was dedicated on Thanksgiving Sunday, November 30, 2008, after the 11:30 am Mass. An open house was held and a complimentary lunch was served to parishioners in the large banquet hall on the top level of the Fr. Quigley Faith Formation Center. The total construction cost for Phase One was $5,784,000 with soft costs (including the purchase of homes/property and the demolition of the old Activity Building) bringing the entire cost to just over $7,000,000.
On May 23, 2009, Holy Trinity hosted the ordination of three new priests for the Archdiocese, including Patrick Sullivan, who spent several summers assisting the parish as a seminarian. When assignments were announced in June 2009, Fr. Patrick was selected to serve Holy Trinity as his first assignment; he was reassigned in October 2010 to serve as pastor of three small rural parishes.
In the summer of 2009, Fr. Richard left for a sabbatical in Rome. He returned in October 2009 and assisted until July 2010 when he was reassigned to St. Peter’s Cathedral.
In August, 2009, after further discernment, construction began on school additions and renovations. Located on the south side of the Parish Center and east of the grade school, the new addition would connect the separate school buildings under "one roof." The new administrative offices, computer lab and media center onened on Feb. 22, 2011 and three new all-day Kindergarten classrooms opened in August 2011. Grade school students assembled wooden crosses made of oak wood harvested from the large trees that had to be removed from the construction site and had them blessed by Fr. Francis Bakyor. The crosses were made available to parishioners as a way to thank them for their support.
Next: In Service to Others
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