To prepare for the renovations, about 70 church parishioners showed up the day after Christmas to strip the church of its furnishings, including 121 pews. All but 17 of the pews were sold to other smaller churches and missions. The sale raised $4,000, which was donated to La Victoria, Nativity’s mission in the Dominican Republic.
“Wow!” said the Rev. Arthur J. Proulx, recalling his observations of the post-Christmas work day. “I simply can’t express myself in another way. I am totally in awe and filled with gratitude to the over 70 parishioners who showed up on the day after Christmas to help move the pews, furniture, artwork, decorations, etc., from the church in preparation for the renovation. The hard work was done with enthusiasm and love, typical of the spirit of Nativity.”
That spirit, too, is a reflection of the greater Brandon community, said Tina Sullivan, a member of the renovation committee and Nativity’s stewardship and development director.
“We have a large community, but it’s more of a generational family community like Brandon is,” Sullivan said of Nativity. “And close, very close knit. It’s not like a sea of unfamiliar faces. It is people you see every week and you get to know them, or you know them from the community.”
In Brandon, like at Nativity, Sullivan added, “everybody pulls together.”
Also like Brandon, Nativity has continued to grow.
“We’re growing, just as the community is growing,” said Sullivan, who noted that Nativity’s membership has topped 5,000 families, amounting to some 15,000 people. Nativity Catholic School, which also uses the church, social hall and chapel, enrolls some 770 students in kindergarten through grade eight.
“The biggest reason that the renovations needed to happen is that things were wearing out because of the constant use,” Sullivan said. “Our church is utilized tremendously.”
That usage includes six regular Masses weekly: Saturday at 4 p.m.; Sunday morning at 7, 8:30 and 10:30; and a Sunday afternoon Mass at 12:15 offered in Spanish. In addition, there is a contemporary Mass for teens and their families Sunday night at 6.
During the renovations, Masses will take place in either the social hall or the chapel. The chapel seats 300 worshippers. The social hall, when configured for Mass, seats 1,200.
Before renovations, the church sat 1,081 parishioners. With the renovations, the pews will hold 100 additional people, but the more open layout will allow for a greater number of seats to be added when necessary, Sullivan said.
The $1.4-million renovation project includes updated lighting and sound equipment, as well as new flooring and pews.
“We didn’t have a separate campaign for this,” Sullivan said. “We are financing the project through the stewardship of our parishioners on a weekly basis. We explained to people that’s part of being a stewardship parish. Everyone is contributing to this work through their weekly offertory.”
Donations, too, are coming in and a $1 million loan was secured from the Diocese of St. Petersburg, “which we will repay based on the offertory and donations,” Sullivan said.
Plans are to reopen the renovated church on March 31, the Saturday before Palm Sunday.
“We’re planning for Bishop Robert N. Lynch to celebrate Mass and to rededicate the church,” Sullivan said.