By Michael Gresham
The Texas Catholic
It is said, “Home is where the heart is.”
At St. Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Community in McKinney, ongoing renovations aim to make the parish a spiritual home of faith, fellowship, and community for its parishioners. As part of those efforts, a newly renovated 18,400-square-foot parish community center was unveiled to the greater St. Gabriel community Feb. 10 during an open house following the 5 p.m. Mass.
“I am thrilled with the completion of the space. I feel like it was exactly what those who designed it had hoped and envisioned it would be,” said Father Eugene Okoli, pastoral administrator for the McKinney parish. “It should help our community to do what we are supposed to do as a Christian community.”
With the St. Gabriel community’s new church building opening in 2019, Father Okoli said the Parish Pastoral Plan turned its focus to beyond the sanctuary’s walls.
“It shifted from the physical spaces under our roofs to what goes on under our roofs to support our mission to make disciples, including initiatives for evangelization, adult formation, and family engagement,” he explained. “Unfortunately, while we had ample space, it was not conducive to ministry needs, as it was originally built to support a school with a gymnasium, cafeteria, and kitchen.”
The purpose of the community center renovation, Father Okoli explained, was to transform the space into a space that is warm, inviting, and conducive to engagement, conversations, and ministry.
“We are pleased that the outcome of the space under our roof in the community center has fulfilled this mission,” he said, adding that “In Communion Hall, we have Acts 2:42 on the wall, which reminds us of what it means to be a Christian community. We come together to learn, break bread, and pray as a community.”
‘A place for me’
Brent Simon, director of operations for St. Gabriel the Archangel, said renovation of the community center is just the first part of a multi-phase renovation plan for the parish. A second phase will focus on St. Gabriel’s Backyard, outdoor areas behind the community center that will include a pavilion, playground area, and outdoor recreation area aimed at encouraging fellowship and community.
“The primary purpose is to have space that allows us to do the type of ministry and community that we do at St. Gabriel,” said Matt Decker, parish director of ministries. “One of our charisms as a community is the sense of community — the sense of home and welcome — we offer here. We wanted to create that space that allowed people to feel like they were at home with family and community.”
Decker said the space will largely support that “Sunday experience” that will allow people to not only come to Mass but also continue their community building after Mass.
“It also is meant to be able to serve ministries of different populations,” Decker said. “There is a youth shack. There is a children’s area. There is space for large community gatherings for people of all ages. So, it allows us to have multipurpose types of events with some designated spacing for certain populations.”
With the renovations, Simon said the children’s area now has a nursery, toddler room, and an indoor area for play and classroom meetings. In addition, the youth shack is outfitted with technology for gatherings of 150 or more youth.
“It offers an element that the teenagers will be able to say that they have a place in the church,” said Decker, adding there will also be a room called the Commons and a Communion Hall, both of which are centered around building community and fellowship. “The space is very warm and inviting. It has a sense of a home. There is the feeling of a living room, a place for a play, and a place for prayer.”
Prior to renovations, Decker said the center was “large and cavernous” and “much more industrial and sterile.”
“Now it has more an environment that promotes a culture — a Catholic community culture — that we want here at St. Gabriel,” he said.
Simon agreed.
“The space is designed to facilitate community,” Simon said. “We use the terms ‘home’ and ‘parish home’ all the time. When we greet people at the beginning of Mass with the deacon’s announcements, we welcome them and tell them we hope that they will make St. Gabriel their parish home. When you walk into this newly renovated space, in the vestibule, big graphic, artistic wording reads, ‘Welcome home.’ We really want people to see this as their home.”
Response to the renovated center has been overwhelming.
“People are blown away,” Simon said. “I definitely am. It’s beyond what I envisioned.”
Decker said most people responded with awe, which was one goal of the parish.
“I brought my daughter up here to see the children’s area, and she just said, ‘Oh, this is for me. This is a place for me.’ That’s exactly what we want,” he said. “This is really going to help us do what we do best: create community and fellowship.”
Future enhancements
With Phase 1 — the renovation of the community center — complete, the parish is now moving onto the second phase, which will include development of St. Gabriel’s Backyard. In addition, extra parking will support the parish’s currently growing Mass attendance and its new outdoor spaces, with 70-90 more parking spaces. In 2026, Simon said Phase 3 will commence, which will focus on renovations to the Bishop Kelly Center.
The future improvements continue the parish pastoral plan of making St. Gabriel parishioners’ parish home emulate their residential homes more closely.
“A residential home has a backyard where people congregate and spend time together in fellowship and recreation,” Father Okoli said. “We want to offer the same opportunities in our parish home. To accomplish this, St. Gabriel’s Backyard will provide an outdoor area for both large and small group gatherings and ministries across all age groups.”
Simon said, as in many churches, St. Gabriel parish leaders talk about community all the time.
“We talk about being brothers and sisters in Christ, but do we really live in Christian community,” asked Simon, adding, “We’re trying to do that here at St. Gabriel.”
