History of the Divine Mercy of our Lord Catholic Church (Part II)

After the Groundbreaking Ceremonies of December 3, 2005, the building committee, the architects and the contractors immediately worked together to obtain the City Construction Permits needed to start the actual construction work. We were told that construction could begin early or mid January 2006. Parishioners waited anxiously for the first sign of activity on the property but days dragged to weeks and even months. We were beginning to wonder whether there was something wrong. We did not know that mechanical, technical, and engineering details were such complicated, elaborate, and time consuming work. Moreover, in establishing working relationships with the Mesquite City Engineering Office, several meetings had to happen to make sure the construction of our church conforms to all Mesquite City Building Codes and Standard of Specifications. But finally, in the middle of February 2006 we got our city permits to begin construction. And in early March 2006, the first signs of activities on our property were at last finally observed. Construction work had actually begun. Parishioners were excited about this.

First the construction trailer office was put up. Then the foundation work began, followed by the actual pouring of concrete on the parking lot and the church building area itself. This phase took almost three months. Pretty soon, by mid June we saw the steel trusses go up and the beams put in place. This phase was finished within the next two months or so. Slowly we saw our church taking shape as envisioned by our architect. The contractors and architects promised us that the building would be finished by late December 2006 and we were counting on it. During the Pre-Construction Dinner given by the church for the contractors, architects and Church Stewardship Committee members in early January, Frank Dale, owner of our constuction company, had promised to finish the building before Christmas and we believed him. The only condition he gave us was that we took care of the weather so it would not rain heavy during the early part of the work to cause us unnecessary delays. And so I told the people to start praying for good weather to keep our end of the bargain and sure enough, rain held off for us rather well. Later on, it became so dry in the summer that we needed rain; and so we started praying for rain, but only on the weekends, when no work could be done. The good Lord must be really working with us on this, for it started to rain on some weekends. He knew just what we needed.

The Building Committee Chairman, Mr. Larry Herzler, represented us during the weekly Owners, Architects and Contractors’ meeting on Tuesday Mornings. As the work was progressing, those weekly meetings became bi-weekly as there were fewer and fewer details to discuss. The roof took longer than expected, a little more than one month; but through it all the contractors assured us that we were still on target with the turn-over date which was to be on December 22, 2006. By early October the roof was nearly finished. The work with the inside wall partitions, which began even before the roofs were finished, moved steadily through and by early November, they had started painting them. The pathway or walkway around the building was concreted next, and the HVAC components were put in. We were moving along quite well.

Construction work indeed went by rather quickly and smoothly. The only big hitch we encountered in the process was the change order on the water and the electricity demanded by the Water District and the City of Mesquite. We were instructed not to tap on the main waterline to the south of the building. We were told to cut across Mesquite Valley Road and tap into the waterline toward the East of the site. This particular change order cost us over $120,000. Moreover, we were asked to provide the full amount of energy needed to supply enough electricity to all the buildings, instead of just the first one, included in our master plan. We were not prepared for this additional cost either. Altogether, these unexpected change orders pushed up over-all construction cost way beyond our ability to pay. The Catholic Foundation approved $60,000 of our grant request for construction assistance. We received this grant money sometime in October of 2006. Since we needed more funds to cover the cost of both change orders, we also wrote to the Kennedy Foundation for more help. As of this writing, we have not heard from them.

In the meantime, many parishioners came by often to see the progress of the work. Some even prayed weekly on the site to make sure that the construction went on smoothly without any hassle nor injury to anyone. While others were content with looking and seeing the work progress, others actually took pictures of everything to make sure they did not miss anything. Some of these pictures of the contruction progress are now in the parish archives. A few of them might even end up inside the time capsule container to be buried on a special day after the blessing of the church. We want them to provide the historical evidence for the actual progress of our church construction for future generations of Catholics to know and remember.

Meanwhile, work did not only happen on the construction site. Fr. Ernie made up a wish list for parishioners to contribute towards the furnishings of our entire Church Building, once it is finished. The list included the stained glass window, the huge crucifix above the altar, the new vestments, sacred vessels, tabernacle, stations of the cross, etc.. We also voted on the 12 popular saints, six men and six women, that will go into the sanctuary for our parishioners to venerate. Even the children participated in this for they too wanted their favorite saints to be included. The people even pledged to buy the statues of those saints for whom they had voted. Fr. Ernie personally made a trip down to Monterrey, Mexico personally to buy them there and then to bring them here. But the Corpus for the Crucifix had to be be ordered directly from Italy. Moreover, some parishioners took it upon themselves to build the Altar, the Pulpit, the Presider’s Chair, the Sanctuary candle stands, and the other sanctuary furniture. These were completed just in time for the blessing of the new church. Still many others pledged to donate money and labor towards the vigil light stands, confessionals, front pew kneelers, wedding kneeler, etc. People really cooperated in all this.

Fr. Ernie once told the people at masses that the greatest experience he ever had in the building of the Mesquite Catholic Church was the great desire and cooperation of the people. Everybody wanted this Church to be finished and they were willing to pay the financial price for it too. Hundreds of families had pledged towards the building cost through our Building in Faith campaign and were making actual contributions to that in addition to their Regular Sunday Tithing. People even encouraged one another so that no one would go lax on their pledges. This was really inspiring. When finished, the church will seat around 600 persons while the chapel will hold 50 seats for daily masses. Since there was no more money left for chairs and kneelers, Fr. Ernie challenged the people once again to come up with more personal contributions to buy them. Each family was asked to donate 2 chairs at $67 a piece. More than 400 hundred chairs were pledged and paid for through individual persons’ responses. Of course, we also needed help from outside sources. Many came to help us with extra funds to use for other items. Everybody contributed something to make a dream come true for all Catholics in the City of Mesquite, one of the biggest cities in Texas without a single Catholic Church for the longest time. And now there will be one to stand as the shining evidence that any big dream can be actualized through small acts of faith and love. Of course, God always does His part for “unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build.” (Psalm 127:1)

In the meantime, as the completion of the building was approaching, Fr. Ernie Torres, PASTOR, established contact with the Diocese in order to find out the availability of Bishop Grahmann to bless the new church building in early 2007. He offered two dates, namely Saturday, January 6, 2007 at 6 PM or Sunday, January 14, at 3 PM. The bishop’s office called to inform us that Saturday, January 6 would probably work best for the Bishop as he was already booked through the rest of January, 2007. Unwilling to further delay the opening of the church, Fr. Ernie accepted the date suggested by the Diocesan Office. Of course, he had to consult on this with the building committee, architects and contractors who promised that the building would be completed by then. In fact, the building would be officially turned-over before Christmas of 2006. All the people thought that this must be the most wonderful Christmas gift they could ever receive and all wrapped in great colors of love and offered in faith..

And so plans were put in place for the Official Blessing of the first ever Catholic Church in Mesquite by Bishop Grahmann on January 6, 2007 at 6 PM. Everyone in the parish was very excited about all this. The people wanted Bishop Grahmann to be the first to celebrate mass inside the new church building. After all it was through his vision, inspiration and support, that the Divine Mercy of our Lord Catholic Church became a reality. He has finally broken the age-old fear for Mesquite to forever be the biggest city in the Diocese of Dallas and the state of Texas without a Catholic Church. He finally put a stop to the ugly rumor about Mesquite being a Rodeo City that did not want Catholics around. We thank God for Bishop Charles Grahmann who wanted this church built and who lent all the support of his diocesan offices towards this project from the beginning up to its final completion. He truly deserves a unique place in the history of this community and this city. For this reason our people put up a beautiful historical marker at the entrance of our new church building to commemorate this momentous event. It is hoped that this will forever remind everyone how the Divine Mercy of our Lord Catholic Church in Mesquite came to be.

As we move on into the next turn of our story, we have great hopes for the continued growth of our Parish Community. And as we grow, we express our desire to maintain the closeness, the personal relationships and the wonderful spirit of love that had glued us together. Our dream as a people is to promote the Divine Mercy of our Lord Catholic Church in Mesquite, Texas so that it would become the SHRINE OF THE DIVINE MERCY OF OUR LORD FOR ALL THOSE WHO CRY TO GOD IN THEIR NEED, BOTH IN THE DIOCESE OF DALLAS AND THE SURROUNDING AREAS. AND ALL THIS SHALL BE FOR THE GLORY OF GOD, THE SALVATION OF SOULS AND THE EDIFICATION OF HIS PEOPLE. With God’s help, this dream can be realized in His own time.