Westlake Village Church Seeks to Sink Roots in Soil of Community

Asking parishioners to bring soil from their own yards and gardens, St. Maximilian Kolbe Roman Catholic Church will use the samples in a ground-blessing ceremony Sunday to symbolize the start of construction of a new church building.

The outside soil will be placed near the spot where the new church’s altar will be built to signify that the new church belongs to all of its members, church officials said.

“We wanted them to have that emotional link from their own home to their spiritual home,” said Msgr. Peter A. O’Reilly.

The parishioners also will be able to take soil from the church site back to their gardens, “to complete the link,” he said.

The blessing of the site is scheduled at 12:30 p.m. at the corner of Kanan and Lindero Canyon roads. O’Reilly said the 800-seat facility is expected to be completed by the end of 1998.

Bishop Thomas Curry, auxiliary bishop for the Santa Barbara region, will bless the site.

St. Maximilian Kolbe Church was established in 1992 in the auditorium of a local elementary school.

Two years later, its membership numbers swelled and the parish relocated to a storefront in the North Ranch Pavilions shopping center, across from the new site.

The small parish has grown over the years, now numbering approximately 1,100 families, O’Reilly said.

The pastor likened the building of the new church to a family looking for a new, larger home.

“We have a need to expand our house,” he said.

The new church will have a sanctuary, ancillary chapel offices and meeting rooms for youth and senior groups. The facility also will offer religious education and preschool classes.