A special celebration
Blessed Sacrament parishioners welcome the opening of new Father Kirkpatrick Center
By LARRY MEYER
ARGUS OBSERVER
Sunday, September 13, 2009 12:43 AM PDT
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| A crowd gathers outside the new Father Kirkpatrick Center for the blessing of the bell tower at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Ontario, Friday evening. The project took 10 years and about $1 million to complete. |
ONTARIO — It was a joyous celebration Friday as pastors and parishioners of Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Ontario celebrated the opening of their new parish hall, the Father Kirkpatrick Center.
The building was named for the late Rev. Cletus Kirkpatrick, who served many years in Eastern Oregon.
Besides a main hall that can have an occupancy of more than 700 people, the new facility features a large kitchen, a library, a conference room, a large storage room and a media center, named for the late Caroline Hedrick, who had been principal at St. Peter Catholic School.
“We’ve been working on this for 10 years,” the Rev. Rob Irwin, pastor of Blessed Sacrament, said. The hall will serve as the cafeteria for the school, as well as for hosting church and community events such as wedding receptions and other celebrations.
“This will be available for community use,” Irwin said.
The new hall has about 9,000 square feet and cost about $1 million, provided by members of the congregation and community, he said.
Father Kirk, as he was fondly known, served churches in La Grande, Nyssa and Ontario, and was well-known as the chaplain of Holy Rosary Medical Center.
“He could relate to anyone,” Grace Hart, who wrote an essay about him, said.
He would go out in the fields and offer Mass for migrant workers, she said. Kirkpatrick died in 2005 from a degenerative disease. After being confined to a wheelchair, he continued to visit and pray with patients in the hospital.
A special guest for the celebration was the Rev. Raymond Jarboe, former pastor at Blessed Sacrament, who was very emotional as he spoke to the audience.
“You became, and still are, my family,” he said. “It is so great to have this happen.”
“Father Kirk was the people’s priest,” Jarboe said, noting Kirkpatrick reached out to all people. “He gave. Even when he was in a wheelchair, he still gave. He gave until the end of his life.”
The conference room was named in Jarboe’s honor.
The celebration concluded with the blessing of the different areas of the center.
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Thats true wrote on Sep 15, 2009 3:09 AM:
This was a big undertaking. It's impressive just from looking at the belltower. Congratulations and thank you for feeding me now and then for the last 25 years also. I am grateful to be in your friendly confines and cared for when I need it. "