For the past three years, on Tuesdays and Sundays, Catholics in Coral Bay on St. John have gathered for worship under a tent. On Sunday, those who came to join the tented congregation witnessed a beginning.
A groundbreaking ceremony marked the start of construction for St. John’s second Catholic Church — St. Therese. Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. and Bishop Jerome Feudjio led the dignitaries scooping up symbolic shovelsful of dirt.
“Today is a momentous occasion for our faith community,” said Senator-at-Large Angel Bolques. And while project manager Michael Jackson described the process that led to securing a spot along Kingshill Road to build St. Therese, he described the hurdles ahead before construction begins.
The hurdles behind them began with renting space from a local learning center to hold services in 2014; there was a site search lasting several months. There were fundraising efforts producing enough money to purchase the land in 2018.
Bryan was among those who hailed Sunday’s groundbreaking. Worshipers from the five Catholic churches in the St. Thomas-St. John district journeyed to the site to show their support.
The governor told a personal story of setting out to buy land and build a house at the age of 27 and the sacrifice it took to make it a reality.
Sometimes you don’t know where it will come from, but if you persist, help will seek you out, Bryan said.
When the work is completed, St. Therese’s chapel is expected to seat 150 people and include a community center and office space for the St. John branch of Catholic Charities.
Once it is built, the church in Coral Bay will join Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in Cruz Bay as the faith center for Catholics on St. John. Mt. Carmel has been serving the community for 61 years, Jackson said.
