The new St. Kilian church is expected to be completed by the church's centennial year in 2017. The new church will have 1,200 seats and feature stained glass windows, a bell tower and “unique” lighting solutions. Architecture was done by AE Works, based out of Pittsburgh.

CRANBERRY TWP — St. Kilian Parish’s new church project took a step forward with the hiring of an architect.

Officials from the parish hired Pittsburgh-based architectural firm AE Works to design the structure.

Groundbreaking for the new church took place in early July after AE Works was chosen and construction started three weeks ago at the former parking lot area behind the parish center.

“AE Works had been our architects for the existing parish center building,” said the Rev. Charles Bober, the church’s priest. “We were very pleased with the work they had done on the original building and we wanted to continue that.”

AE Works has done business with other churches and maintains good communication with officials from St. Kilian.

Members of the architecture team participated in the design and development of the Saint Kilian parish school. Such services included a power extension for the soccer field and design of a new entrance sign.

Company representatives said some design needs of new churches include bigger space and more focus on parishioners’ involvement in services.

“This parish, as well as others that have been growing, really want to make sure they have the space to accommodate all their parishioners,” said architect Patrick Rakszawski. “We’re trying to create an opportunity where people feel inclusive during services.”

Project manager Robert Burlett said the inclusion of more audio and visual aspects also will serve the congregation well and utilize modern broadcast technology.

“The congregation has the opportunity to see images (on screens) in terms of the music that’s being played and they can broadcast that, which is something you just didn’t see incorporated in older churches,” he said.

AE Works architecture team captain Jason Dillamansaid the designers are balancing between traditional and contemporary, serving to make parishioners happy and also make the church look attractive.

“An interesting aspect of this design was that the parish liked the look of a fairly traditional Roman Catholic church,” Dillaman said. “But we also wanted to make it contemporary and not look like a 50-year-old church.”

Bober said the reason for a new church is the rapid increase in the number of parishioners. He said the parish has seen a 400 percent increase in the number of parishioners during the past 10 years, totaling 11,086 churchgoers who attend seven different Masses throughout the week. Parishioners attend Masses at the St. Kilian Parish Center and the Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic Auditorium. The original church in Mars with a capacity of less than 250 people is now used solely for weddings and funerals.

The new church will take up 30,000 square feet and will have 1,200 seats as opposed to Cardinal Wuerl Auditorium’s capacity of 921 and an area of 16,800 square feet.

The basement hall will have 350 seats and a full-size commercial kitchen. Meeting rooms, a bell tower, offices and other amenities also will be built. New stained glass windows will be installed and will utilize natural light.

The cost of the entire project is expected to be slightly less than $11 million. Construction is expected to take 16 to 18 months.

The fate of the current church center is yet to be determined. Bober said it would depend on the needs of the parish.