Sioux Center — It’s a good problem to have. More and more parishioners are attending mass in Sioux Center. In fact, they’re building a new church building to be able to fit everyone in.
Groundbreaking is set for 10:00 a.m. this Thursday morning, August 20th, near the old building of Christ The King Catholic Church, according to the parish priest, Father Douglas Klein.
(As said:) “The new facility will be a new church. Our current church is maybe 170. Though we are often over capacity, especially in our Spanish language services and the new church building will be about a 400-seat capacity. In our current church building we’ve been worshipping in since 2001… It originally was Kempers’ Flower Shop here in Sioux Center which was purchased there and then and gutted and remodeled and added on to and we’ve been using this. It’s been a wonderful little place to worship for the last 20 years, but we know that we’ve outgrown it now for several years. So we’ve been working towards this event now at least for five years.”
He says they’re looking forward to it, and it’s a very exciting time for their parish.
While Sioux County has many historic parishes in Rock Valley, Hospers, Alton, Granville, and Hawarden, Christ the King is one of the comparatively newer catholic parishes, says Fr. Klein.
(as said:) “The Catholic community here in Sioux Center first began to gather and meet in 1992 beginning just with a mass on the weekend and first graciously was offered the use of Lutheran church here. And then after they outgrew that they were in the basement of the old library until we got the current church. In 1992 it was 13 families that kind of gathered together. Over the recent years, we continue to grow and expand and we’re well over 200 families.
He says the church won’t be moving very far. He says they’re building near their current church.
(as said:) “When neighboring properties can be… became available we would purchase those so we had enough property to be ready to build the new church here on our current property, which allows us then, you know after we build a new building to use our current building as a parish hall, which we do not have a parish hall for social functions at this time. Even now we’re kind of dealing with the coronavirus and trying to keep social distancing here. I’m no longer able to hold my Spanish language service here. So we’ve been doing the second service over in the Rock Valley church. So our need for the new church is even greater at this point.”
He tells us that it will take a year to 18 months before the new church is ready to be used, and in the meantime, they’ll continue to use their current building.
