Yesterday was a very special day in the life of St. Mary’s parish community. We had the distinct privilege of a visit from both Cardinal Justin Rigali and Bishop Richard Stika. Ours was the first parish in the diocese Cardinal Rigali has visited since his recent move to Knoxville.
Mass was celebrated at 5:00pm yesterday with Bishop Stika as the primary celebrant, assisted by Cardinal Rigali, Monsignor Al Humbrecht, Fr. William Oruko, Fr. Michael Cummins, Fr. Sam Sturm and Deacon Sean Smith. Also in attendance was the Hon. John Forgety, State Representative; Mr. Hal Buttram, Athens City Mayor; our Architect Chris Malone with Foxhollow Goodson and our contractor Donald Freeman, President of Rentenbach Contructors, Inc.
Following Mass we moved outside for the groundbreaking ceremony. Bishop Stika blessed the ground and then it was broken by our guests and various parish leaders. You can view photos of the event in the slideshow below:
There is also this short video of the ceremony, captured by Christine Maentz on her iPhone:
