Foundation Loans Aid Building Programs
Episcopal News Service. February 7, 1980 [80040]
NEW YORK -- Eight loans totalling $141,000 to aid building projects in eight dioceses have been authorized by the Board of Directors of The Episcopal Church Foundation since July 1, 1979. The loans are helping to complete the construction programs of four parishes and four missions. They are repayable in ten annual, equal installments, with a 4 percent interest charge on the unpaid balance.
A loan of $20,000 to the Diocese of Arkansas will help to build a multipurpose structure for Grace Church in Siloam Springs, a diocesan mission which is the only Episcopal congregation within a 35-mile radius. The first service was held there in 1899, and five years later a church was built for $500. It was sold in 1925, however, and 50 years were to pass before the congregation became active again. The mission is now thriving and hopes eventually to put up other structures as its growth continues.
St. Paul's Church in Fort Collins, Colo., began as an Episcopal student center near the Colorado State University campus. A chapel was then built in a shopping center on the edge of the campus, and the congregation grew to include permanent residents, as well as students and faculty. When a full-time chaplain was appointed by the diocese, St. Paul's rector was able to devote himself more actively to the needs of his congregation. A parish hall is now being built with the aid of a $20,000 loan to the Diocese of Colorado, which will provide classroom space and facilities for new parish activities.
Located in Lancaster, Tex., which has doubled in size in the past 20 years, St. Martin's Mission has shown steady growth as well, especially since several other nearby missions have been closed. Plans to enlarge the church's nave will increase seating capacity by 55 percent, which should move the congregation well towards parish status. The $12,000 loan to the Diocese of Dallas will also help to add central heating and air-conditioning to the building.
With the aid of a $25,000 loan to the Diocese of Florida, the Church of the Good Samaritan in Orange Park will erect an all-purpose building to house a parish hall suitable for worship services, a kitchen office space, meeting and classrooms. Since its establishment as a diocesan mission in 1978, the congregation has moved several times to temporary quarters and is now the guest of a local Lutheran church. During its first year the mission had an average weekly attendance of 125, with 100 children enrolled in its Sunday school.
St. Peter's in the Valley, a mission in Jefferson County, Ky., is moving to a more central location in the county, where it expects to become a parish in five years. The move has won the enthusiastic support of the congregation and the diocese, especially since the new location is in a much more populous center. The construction of the new church building will be helped by a loan of $20,000 to the Diocese of Kentucky.
The first services of what was to become St. Thomas' Church in Hacienda Heights, Calif., were held in the early 1960s at the home of one of five worshippers. As the congregation grew, it moved to other locations, and in 1968 a parish hall was built on two acres of land. A $14,000 loan to the Diocese of Los Angeles will assist St. Thomas' in building its first church, to accommodate a much enlarged congregation.
A congregation of black Episcopalians of Bahamian descent organized the Church of the Ascension in 1965 in a suburb of Miami, which at first shared its facilities with a Presbyterian church and, with help from the diocese, bought the structure in 1972. To permit its present growth to continue and to make welcome newcomers of Jamaican and other West Indian descent, a new church is being built with help from a $10,000 loan to the Diocese of Southeast Florida.
St. Stephen's Church in Forest, Va., was founded in 1824 by a clergyman who later became Bishop of Alabama. The present church was built in 1844 and operated jointly with a neighboring parish for many years until both fell upon hard times and were forced to make do with summer services only. As the neighboring city of Lynchburg began to expand in the direction of Forest, St. Stephen's has grown as well -- by 10 percent in each of the past few years -- and attained parish status in 1974. A $20,000 loan to the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia will help to enlarge the parish house to provide space for a Sunday School and an office for the rector.
The Revolving Loan Fund is one program of The Episcopal Church Foundation, which also makes grants and awards fellowships for doctoral study. As a national, independent organization of lay men and women, the Foundation supports projects of significance to the Church that would otherwise be left undone.