“People are going to look back and say, ‘I remember when,’” said St. Luke’s Associate Pastor, Father Don Andrie C.S.P. “Our people are real troopers.”

Father Don Andrie, C.S.P.

When the first Mass was to be celebrated at the new St. Luke University Parish in Allendale, Michigan, pastor Father Brad Schoeberle, C.S.P., baked cinnamon rolls for the 40 or so people expected to enjoy after the liturgy. He brought a few extra cans for those volunteering for the following week.

More than 150 people showed up at that Mass in town, and that has how everything at St. Luke has been since its beginning in August 2007 – full of surprises.

At that same Mass, Father Schoeberle asked if someone wanted to help out with the hospitality ministry, and someone immediately volunteered to coordinate the effort.

“If you want to build a church, this is the place to be,” Father Schoeberle said. “This is an exciting place to be because you can’t be part of this parish and not be involved. We can’t go forward without the participation of each person.”

And there has been no shortage of volunteers in building this faith community from the ground up. Whether it is building an altar to creating a music ministry, parishioners of the first new parish created in the Diocese Grand Rapids in 30 years have come out in full support.

That support has vaulted the new parish into success in a place where “there were a lot of unknowns,” in the beginning according to Father Don Andrie, C.S.P., associate pastor.

“When you go to a new place, you have expectations as to what you can do, what is there and what you can use,” said the Minnesota native. “We had to get rid of those ‘givens’ coming here because we had nothing. We had gifts from the people of chalices and Communion vessels and also forming committees. They take a pretty proactive stance.”

The diocese, the Paulist-run Catholic Information Center in Grand Rapids and parishes near St. Luke were also generous in providing the staples of parish life: a tabernacle, candles and the like.

The approximately 5,000 Catholic students and staff at nearby Grand Valley State University petitioned the Diocese of Grand Rapids for a full-time campus minister.

With no Catholic church in Allendale, St. Luke celebrates Mass and holds religious education classes at Allendale Christian School. The community outgrew the rotunda space of the school at the first Mass, and now celebrates in the gymnasium. Religious education classes are held in the hallways, with students often sitting on carpet squares.

“People are going to look back and say, ‘I remember when,’” said Father Andrie with a chuckle. “Our people are real troopers.”

In contrast to the spartan beginnings at the in-town locale, the site at Grand Valley State University had facilities to utilize and a weekly Mass. The approximately 5,000 Catholic students and staff petitioned the Diocese of Grand Rapids for a full-time campus minister.

Paulist president Father John F. Duffy, C.S.P., said the Paulists were invited to Allendale because of their rich history in campus ministry.

“And it is growing,” he said.

St. Luke now boasts the Father Isaac Hecker- St. Luke University Council of the Knights of Columbus, many of whose more than 50 members are GVSU students.

“Just that we are here is a major thing,” said Father Andrie. “People are amazed that there is a Catholic church in Allendale, that there is a Catholic church on campus.”

Whether it is attending Christmas Day Mass at the St. Luke office or holding a live Stations of the Cross in the snow, St. Luke is surely attracting attention.

“People just discover us and are amazed at what we are doing,” Father Andrie said.