Thursday, January 14, 2021

Fr. Chuck's Column, January 10, 2021

 

As I hope you know, our parish/school community is actively planning for a major development of our facilities on our site. Only the church would remain. The rectory, parish halls and offices, school buildings and gym, would all be demolished and replaced. If you want more information on where the plan is at this stage, go to staustin.org, click on HOME, then on the drop down on Our Property Development Journey.

Our project (emphasis on “our”) offers us a unique opportunity to project a message about who we are, what we do, and what we are all about. We have an opportunity in the architecture we build to say something to the wider City of Austin about who we as a parish and school are, and what we do. What do we want to say about ourselves?

Perhaps the most prominent location for doing this is the corner of Guadalupe and 21st Streets. Currently this corner on our part is pretty non-descript. Across 21st Street from us, on the wall, is an iconic image of a sort of frog with the words, “Hi, how are you?” Dozens of people each year stop and have their picture taken in front of that sign. I think that we can have an image or symbol or architectural feature that says something true and significant about us, that this building is not just another office building, that it is not an extension of the University of Texas, but is a spiritual community that follows Jesus Christ and is committed to the wider Austin community.

The current architectural plan for this corner renders it as mostly glass windows. This gives the impression that this is just another new office building. Also, on several of the floors of this corner are classrooms, and the teachers do not want windows, both for privacy but also to have wall space where they can post things. Apparently wall space is important in modern classrooms. So we need a different architectural solution for this corner.

The Development Committee is looking for creative ideas of how to make this public location more significant for us. How can we use architecture and design to say to Austin something about what this building is and does? Perhaps it would be sculpture, or engraved words, or images, or painting, or even neon signs? We need the creative people in our community to help us come up with a solution. Of course, considerations of cost, durability, care and maintenance, and all the other practical aspects will be considered.

If you have an idea, an image, a phrase, that you think would serve us well there, I invite you to write it up and send it as an email to develop@staustin.org. Let’s see what we can come up with. We don’t have much time, so please send in your ideas soon.

Finally, I ask for the help of all of you to pray for a successful outcome of our parish Development team with the Diocesan Finance Council on Jan. 28. This is about the last big hurdle with the Diocese prior to signing the actual development contract. It is critical that this meeting go well. So your prayers for the guidance of the Holy Spirit for us all, so that we have a good solution for both St. Austin Parish/School and the whole Diocese of Austin, are very important.

 

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