PROVO -- For parishioners at St. Francis Catholic Church, this week marks the end -- and the beginning.
St. Francis is leaving Provo after more than a century, moving Utah County's largest Catholic parish to a new building in Orem. Thousands of memories were swept out the door Tuesday along with the furniture that volunteers hauled away."It's sad because we've been here for so long," said Tina Martinez, the parish council president who first celebrated Mass at St. Francis in 1946. "There are mixed emotions. People don't want to move."
But the church, completed in 1936, is simply too old and too small for a Utah County Catholic population that is growing rapidly on the strength of immigration by Latinos. Even with seven Masses each weekend, the parish's 1,500 registered families fill the church to overflowing. Floors bow under the weight of years of worship.
The building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of two buildings in Utah to have been consecrated by a Catholic bishop, likely will be leased by the Utah High School for the Arts. The private school now based in Orem wants to use the church for a theater.
St. Francis parishioners will celebrate a final weekend of Masses on Saturday and Sunday. A farewell reception will be held after the Mass on Sunday at 6 p.m.
"The entire history of our parish is tied up in this building," said Judy Bruyette, a member of the parish council. "But this building is not our parish. The people are."
For Martinez, the parish's move is appropriate now, coming as it does in the Jubilee Year 2000. She waxed philosophical about the move, saying there's a time of death and rebirth for everything. She and Bruyette project optimistically that parishioners will come to adopt the new church in Orem as their own after just a few weeks.
But some parishioners were disappointed three weeks ago when the parish council held a vote about whether Masses should continue to be held in the old building as well as the new. They will not.
"We can't support them both," Martinez said.
Initially, St. Francis will celebrate Mass in the new complex's multipurpose room. That portion of the building, along with classrooms and a kitchen, made up the first phase of construction. The second phase, which will include the church itself, is still several years -- and several million dollars -- away.
For now, the $5 million project will remain about half complete. The parish still needs to raise several hundred thousand dollars in donations to pay for the portion of the complex already constructed.
But parishioners will enjoy more parking, more bathrooms and handicapped accessibility, Bruyette said. The parish council estimated that an equal number of those who attend services live in Orem and Provo, so transportation to the new building at 65 E. 500 North in Orem shouldn't be a big issue.
Several weeks ago, the large statue of St. Francis of Assisi, a wealthy man turned humble friar and who loved animals and preached to the birds of his hometown before his death in 1226, was taken down and moved to Orem. In the statue's place was posted a large "For Sale" sign that elicited plenty of interest on Provo's busy State Street.
Among the groups interested in buying the church building were several schools, a reception center, a restaurant and the Provo Housing Authority, said Realtor Tommy George. The housing authority wanted to tear the church down and build low-income housing, but the city and the parish voted against it.
Now George is left peddling the church and four homes on 1.38 acres for $1.2 million.
"To tear it down would really be a shame," said George, who was baptized at St. Francis 64 years ago. "But (the parish) really needs the money, so it could be the only way."
Most parishioners would like to see the building remain intact, and the Utah High School for the Arts seems a perfect fit, George said. A lease has been worked out that would give the school an option to buy the property, although paperwork has not been signed.
Whatever happens, those whose lives were built around St. Francis won't soon forget their faith. Many parishioners already are praying for the day when St. Francis will grow enough to build a second church and return to Provo.
"To the parishioners it will always be holy ground," Bruyette said.