Construction of new church is on schedule
CRANBERRY TWP — Construction on St. Kilian Parish's new church at Route 228 and Franklin Road is “right on schedule,” according to the parish business manager Charles Goetz.
The project by Mosites Construction of Pittsburgh is scheduled to be completed by August 2016.
“This is huge for us,” Goetz said. “So far, it's been great weather. Everything's going along so far right on our timeline.”
Nearly four months since the groundbreaking, the footings and about half of the steel erection have been completed. Concrete for the main and lower levels will be poured soon.
Goetz said construction will continue throughout winter. The hope is to have the project under roof by December so internal work can be done.
More outside masonry will be done in spring when temperatures are above freezing.
After construction is done, the altar will be consecrated by Bishop David Zubik.
The budget for the project is nearly $11 million, which includes parking, infrastructure, utilities and the building.
The new church will include a basement hall with 350 seats, a full-size commercial kitchen, meeting rooms, a bell tower and offices.
New stained glass windows will be installed.
Goetz said the project has been ongoing since 2002.
“We've been working toward getting to a permanent church building,” Goetz said.
“This will be the culmination of all those efforts of all the people for the past 13 years.”
The Rev. Charles Bober, the pastor of St. Killian, previously said the reason for the new, larger church is the rapid growth of the parish.He said the parish has had a 400 percent increase in the number of parishioners in the past 10 years, now totaling more than 11,000 churchgoers who attend seven Masses during the week.Parishioners attend Masses at the St. Kilian Parish Center and the Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic School auditorium. The original church in Mars with a capacity of fewer 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 in contrast to Cardinal Wuerl auditorium's capacity of 921.People can see the construction live through the parish's website at www.saintkilian.org. A webcam was set up in September that shows the construction work.“We're very excited. It's been a long time coming,” Goetz said. “It will be very nice to have our own worship space.”The fate of the current church center is yet to be determined. Bober said it would depend on the needs of the parish.
