Cathedral community hosts open house for Catechetical and Educational Building

PATERSON  Three years ago, some people said it could not be done, initially because it was too ambitious. Then, came the COVID-19 lockdown, followed by shortages in building materials because of supply-chain issues. But there was Rosalie Diaz, 8, of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist here and her family on the morning of March 13, taking a tour of that seemingly impossible dream, now a reality: a recently completed two-story, 15,000-square-foot, 13-classroom Catechetical and Educational Building.

After each Mass on the weekend of March 12–13, Msgr. Geno Sylva, St. John’s rector and diocesan vicar for special projects, beamed with pride, as he and more than 100 members from the various communities and movements at St. John’s led the tours of the building, along with the cathedral staff. The facility will house formation programs to help faithful of all ages to get to know the Lord and answer his call to encounter, to engage, and to invite others to know the “Good News” of Jesus Christ. This weekend, religious education classes are set to begin meeting in the new facility, which marks the completion of the second phase of a two-phase $4.5 million capital project, called “Building on Tradition.”

“This is amazing. It’s big and cozy. It’s a home away from home,” said Diaz, who participates in St. John’s after-school program, to be housed in the new building. For the tour, she and more than a thousand other St. John’s parishioners poured into its blue-and-white hallways to check out the classrooms, meeting rooms, and main office.

Started in spring 2020 — at the beginning of the COVID lockdown, the new building enables the ever-growing St. John’s to offer a full catechetical ministry for faithful of all ages and to provide space to its many ministries, communities, and movements. They include, among others, its new Family Faith Formation Program, Special Needs Catechetical Program, After School Catechetical Program, Young Prophets Teen Ministry, Sal y Luz New Apologetics Program, the Knights of Columbus Council, and “From Mercy to Hope,” a new social services outreach. “But in particular, it was the mission of Ivannia Vega-McTighe, director of St. John’s Family Faith Formation, and her catechists, who began the program in 2018, one which has just continued to grow in both numbers and graces, that inspired us to find this new space,” Msgr. Sylva said.

Thanks to the new building, the parish can partner with diocesan agencies, such as Catholic Charities and the Center for Evangelization at St. Paul Inside the Walls in Madison. In fall 2023, the facility will welcome about 230 students, grades K, first, and fifth, of the new Brilla Public Charter School, which will be housed here and will provide children from the neighborhood with an academically excellent, character rich, and vibrant value-based education. Also beginning that fall will be the El Camino After-School Catechetical Program. Soon, St. John’s plans to embark on a project to renovate the former cathedral high school building across the street to accommodate all grades of the Brilla Public Charter School, Msgr. Sylva said.

In his homily at last week’s Masses, Msgr. Sylva spoke about achieving what many people thought was the impossible dream of constructing the new building. Both phases of the project — the first, which focused on major improvements to the Bishop Frank J. Rodimer Center adjacent to the cathedral — coincided with last year’s commemoration of the 200th anniversary of St. John’s, the mother church of the Paterson Diocese, he said.

“This building is now more than reality but a miracle, a sign from God to the children, teens, adults, and seniors of Paterson, reminding all that he is faithful,” Msgr. Sylva told the parishioners in his homilies at the English- and Spanish-language Masses. “In the generations to come, children will be learning in the classrooms that you built. As teens will be growing in their faith in the space that you prayed for and as adults will be finding the answers to why they should believe in God in the rooms you gave so generously to build, they will have all but forgotten us. And this is fine! However, they will know that you were once visible and your good works for the Lord are still shining over them, hidden even more deeply in God’s great plan because of what you have done here on our ‘Block of Mercy.’ You have indeed made a profit for the young prophets, one which will profit them for salvation,” the priest said in his homily.

Completed in December 2019, the first phase of the project expanded office space in the Rodimer Center and upgraded heating and air conditioning, as well as security in and around the building. It created a handicapped-accessible entrance that was relocated from the center of the façade on Grand Street to the corner nearest the cathedral. The center’s reconfigured façade now displays the cathedral’s original altar from 1865, refurbished by a parishioner, who is an art restorer, Msgr. Sylva said.

The second phase started in spring 2020 with the demolition of two older buildings next to St. John’s that made way for the new building. Workers razed 24 DeGrasse Street, which was built in 1920 and previously housed the diocesan Chancery and later housed several Catholic Charities offices. Also razed was 26 DeGrasse Street, which was built in 1899 and once served as St. John’s catechetical building. Both buildings would have cost too much — well over $7 million — to salvage, Msgr. Sylva said.

During the tours, catechists sat in their respective classrooms to welcome parishioners. Denise Tobon, who teaches fifth- and sixth-graders, told The Beacon that the new facility “will meet the kids’ needs.

“The beautiful building will give students more motivation to learn and will give them more privacy, so they can have great communication between each other and with God,” Tobon said. She explained that during COVID-19, classes met virtually and then in the gym of the Rodimer Center, each separated by dividers, all while following safety protocols.

The “Building on Tradition” project was developed in consultation with many parishioners and others from the Diocese and beyond, including Bishop Emeritus Arthur J. Serratelli and later Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney. It also builds on the rich legacy of St. John’s, the oldest Catholic community in New Jersey with a resident priest. The $4.5 million was raised by parishioners, giving them a true sense of ownership in this important legacy, and from sources and benefactors outside the cathedral, Msgr. Sylva said.

Vega-McTighe said, “The joy that we felt last weekend will be the inspiration for us to grow in our outreach to more and more people in the community.

“Our greatest desire is to bring people to this ‘Block of Mercy’ and to the Eucharist. It was perfect that we had tours after each of the Masses because what we do in the new building connects directly with what happens at Mass,” Vega-McTighe said.