With Tempe's All Saints Catholic Newman Center bursting at the seams, church leaders are preparing to build a new facility to serve campus Catholics.
The church is raising funds to replace the main chapel with a larger building to accommodate the 1,500 people who usually attend weekend masses, said the Rev. Nathan Castle.
The new chapel will include room for 650 people for weekend masses, a daily mass chapel with room for 50, new student offices and a multipurpose area that can seat up to 200 for banquets and handicapped access to existing upstairs facilities, Castle said.
The Old Church, the brick chapel on the corner of College Avenue and University Drive, was built in 1902 to accommodate 180 people, Castle said.
In 1962, a social hall was added just west of the Old Church. It was never intended to be a chapel, but as the campus' student population grew from 14,000 in the 1960s to 48,000 today, the church had to begin holding some masses in the larger location, Castle said.
But the recreation center-turned-chapel is still a tight fit for most Newman Center congregations.
The 7 p.m. mass is the center's largest service, regularly attracting between 350 and 400 people, the Rev. Fred Lucci said. The chapel can comfortably fit 250.
"The space is far less than ideal for the experience on liturgy," Lucci said. "[Students are] sitting behind poles, they're sitting on couches."
Castle added, "Some people are sitting next to a bathroom door."
Construction will begin when the Newman Center has raised 70 percent of needed funds, Castle said. But, he could not anticipate when the church would break ground on the project.
"Write me a check and I'll start tomorrow," he said.
Total construction costs should be $4.75 million, Castle said. The Newman Center has raised $1.3 million and will start widely publicizing fund-raising efforts this summer.
The work will not affect the Old Church, which just underwent 25 years of renovations.
"It's beloved, and we've done a lot of work to restore it," Castle said.
While the Newman Center has not yet determined where masses will be held during the construction phase of the project, the church will continue to serve students during renovations.
The Old Church will be open for masses and the center may rent a facility to accommodate larger congregations, Castle said.
Reach the reporter at amanda.keim@asu.edu.
