Smiles, laughter and cheers were ubiquitous last Sunday morning as hundreds of members of the St. Ignatius community joined together in the halls of our school to witness the official groundbreaking for our new school building and parish offices.

Themes of welcome, hope and gratitude were braided into the ceremonies, from hymns to readings to the poignant remarks of our Pastor, Fr. Mike Moynahan, SJ, who reminded all in attendance that “buildings are just buildings. You are the church.”

“We are building so we can touch more lives,” he went on to say. “How exciting to think of how many lives we’ll now be able to touch in the months and years going forward!”

Leaders in our community who have helped to make this dream a reality were given hearty rounds of applause as Fr. Mike thanked them for their belief in this project, which helped others to see promise and join the campaign.

Over the past two years, our community has shown tremendous generosity with time, talent and treasure to get this project off the ground and there is no doubt that our greatest ministry will only continue to grow as we are able to provide our students, teachers and parish at large with safe, modern facilities.

It will be bittersweet for many in our parish family when demolition of the 60-year-old buildings begins this summer, but what joy we will share again as the new buildings rise. Now more than ever, we are grateful for our past and hopeful in our future.

This is the day the Lord has made… we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 118:24