Seeking to encourage a greater sense of community within the parish, Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic Church in Waterloo will soon see an expansion of its school and church campus just across the street.

Per Ss. Peter & Paul Pastor Fr. Linus Umoren, work on the new parish center is underway at 110 S. Church Street.

Offering some background on this addition for the church, Umoren explained that, from the time he started there in 2022, he felt a lack of a dedicated event or meeting space was a major deficiency for the community, depriving parishioners of time that could be spent together outside of Mass.

“One of the things I discovered about this parish is that there is no gathering space,” Umoren said. “It leaves out a great part of our church which is fellowship, so we are limited to only being at Mass. After Mass, everybody goes. There is no place we can fellowship. The first Christian community, the great part of their community was fellowshipping with one another.”

Along with this spiritual element, he also described various ways a lack of space has impacted the church and its members.

“We are so limited with space for meetings,” Umoren said. “The only place we have that everybody seems to be scrambling for is at the school. The other one is the Adult Faith Formation house, and sometimes there are conflicts.”

He described how the Knights of Columbus are typically required to use space provided by the Waterloo Oddfellows, while other parish groups might rely on the school’s cafeteria to be open.

During the school year, however, any space at SPPCS naturally becomes unavailable. He explained how this can be particularly troublesome when hosting funeral luncheons.

Emphasizing how special these post-funeral gatherings can be, Umoren recalled the numerous times the parish has had to host them elsewhere in town, perhaps most notably being provided space courtesy of the Waterloo Fire Department.

Thus, he proposed the idea of a parish center some time ago to positive reception.

With a committee started, talks originally focused on an expansion to the existing campus, though parish leaders soon heard Sydenstricker Nobbe Partners would be vacating its downtown Waterloo office with the construction of an expanded facility just outside the city.

Communications with the John Deere partners confirmed the upcoming vacancy, and with the company having moved out of the office some time ago, the parish has come to acquire the space with approval from the Diocese of Belleville.

Umoren voiced his appreciation for the generosity of various members of the parish community.

“We didn’t have to raise funds,” Umoren said. “We didn’t ask for money for the building because families and the Knights of Columbus and people generously funded.”

As work has already begun on the new parish center, Umoren said the building will include an event space alongside a hall designated for the Knights of Columbus and a warming kitchen.

The parish center will also have two offices to help spread out the somewhat cramped parish office and ensure the new space can be open regularly.

Though there is no official renovation timeline at the moment, Umoren voiced hopes for steady progress going into the spring with plans for a grand opening to honor everyone who had a hand in acquiring the space and getting it functional for the parish.

He reiterated his hopes for what this additional will do for Ss. Peter & Paul Church.

“It’s just for the use of the church,” Umoren said. “Anything fellowship, meetings, funeral luncheon, a baby shower if someone wants to rent it, if someone wants to do a wedding rehearsal dinner, anything.”