A $3 million project will transform the older structure next door into a parish life center
By Dan McWilliams
One of the highlights of the 100th-anniversary celebration of Holy Ghost Church’s current building is the effort to renovate the North Knoxville Catholics’ original 1908 church into a parish life center.
The ground floor of the older building next door on Central Street was used as a church until the current worship space was dedicated in 1926. The upper floor of the original church served as Holy Ghost School, which operated from the parish’s founding until 1963, when St. Joseph School opened about five miles farther north. Henkel Hall, the downstairs meeting room in the current Holy Ghost Church, also was used for Holy Ghost School classes.
The old Holy Ghost Church as it appeared earlier in the 2000s when it was used by the Ladies of Charity.
In more recent years, the old church building was used by the Ladies of Charity of Knoxville and the Byzantine Catholic community. The first floor has been empty ever since while the old school rooms upstairs were mostly gutted some time ago.
The new center will meet the needs of a growing Holy Ghost Parish, which has doubled to more than 1,000 families in the last five years and greatly needs space for events that are beyond what Henkel Hall can host. The renovated building also will house the parish offices, which have long been in the rectory behind the old church.
The interior and exterior of the old church will undergo a complete restoration, adding 8,800 square feet of meeting and office space to the campus. The first floor will have a 2,000-square-foot hall for events, one large conference room, and bathrooms as well as the offices added. All electronics and security equipment will move to the new space and all current office furniture will do so as well with no added expense for that.
The second floor will have five separate large meeting rooms or classrooms, two priest offices, a deacon office, and two bathrooms.
An extra set of stairs and an elevator will be added to the north side of the new center in an extended area that will go toward the current church, about where a protective overhang for a priest’s car is located on the old church.
Designing the new parish life center will be GAE Architect + Design of Knoxville, whose founder, George Armour Ewart, is a parishioner of Immaculate Conception in downtown Knoxville. Blaise Burch, a parishioner of the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, is working on the project for contractor J.A. Fielden of Knoxville, where he is vice president.
The center has a target completion date of next spring, said Holy Ghost pastor Father John Orr.
“The project’s about $3 million, and we’ve got $1.2 million on hand collected over the last 20 years or so,” he said. “In theory, we’re hoping to be in by April 2027, so it’s 12 months. This is April-May already, so I’m hoping we can do that.”
An unexpected issue with the south side of the current church’s bell tower that occurred late last year is being taken care of now before the parish center work can begin.
“There was a catastrophic failure of the stone facing on the bell tower, and so that stone fell onto the roof. Catholic Mutual paid us for the roof but not for the bell tower, so we’re getting the bell tower refaced with stone,” Father Orr said. “It’s taking a while to get that all done.”
Tyler Williamson of the Immaculata Construction Group is the day-to-day contractor on the bell-tower job.
Roofs on both churches will be replaced.
“The roof issues on the new church can be addressed, and then we start in earnest on the renovation of the old church,” Father Orr said.
The upper floor of the original church that served as Holy Ghost School has an unusual structure.
This rendering by GAE Architect + Design of Knoxville shows the original Holy Ghost Church from four angles as it will look after it is renovated into a parish life center.
“It’s interesting to me the way the architects and engineers explain it: the second floor is suspended from the rafters. They’re like posts coming down, so that meant in the ground floor where there was originally a worship place, there are no pillars to obstruct your view of the sanctuary,” Father Orr said. “That being said, they’re going to put what I’ll call an iron or steel exoskeleton around the existing rafters.”
The floor in the parish center where the nave was originally will have a distinctive look.
“There’s a coffered ceiling on the inside, and then for the floor there’s a herringbone pattern in the middle with plank around and a border. It’s not just plain jane—it has a little interest,” Father Orr said.
The arches of the old church’s front windows above its three entry doors as well as the arches above the side windows have stained glass. Those will be restored, Father Orr said.
The stained glass over the front doors on the original church have a couple of missing pieces to be repaired. One of those windows has apparently had different designs over the years, he noted.
“There are two different depictions of this window in old pictures,” the pastor said, going on to cite the Book of Numbers, chapter 21. “Moses and Israel were in the desert and the seraph serpents were about them and would bite them, and the Lord said make a seraph serpent and mount it on a pole. That was in one of the original windows up here, so we’ll see if we can have that fixed.”
Since the Ladies of Charity and the Byzantine Catholics left the old church, the building was basically “let go” and experienced “deferred maintenance,” Father Orr said.
At the dinner for the 100th anniversary on April 25 (see story that begins on page B1), parishioner Tom Bolen gave a talk on the vision for Holy Ghost and the new parish center.
“I’ve been reflecting on how much Holy Ghost has meant to me and my family,” Mr. Bolen said. “My wife, Linda, and I have been attending Mass here for 54 years. Our children were baptized and received their first Communion and confirmations here. Two of them were married here. And when my mother passed away, we celebrated a memorial Mass for her here. For all of this, we are grateful.”
He said he was also “especially grateful to those Holy Ghost parishioners who, over 100 years ago, dedicated themselves and made sacrifices to build this beautiful church with its resplendent stained-glass windows and altars. This is a place of serenity, where we can converse with our Lord, have our sins forgiven in confession, and receive Jesus body, blood, soul, and divinity in Communion. Those men and women who so long ago sacrificed much to build this church. God has sanctified it and made it holy, and we are all the beneficiaries. Now it’s our turn.”
The need for more space at Holy Ghost has been around “for many years,” Mr. Bolen said, such as “a special place to celebrate wedding receptions, first Communions, confirmations, as well as other parish events like Mardi Gras, Advent by Candlelight, quinceañaeras, as well as events like tonight’s. We also need more space for continuing education in our faith. … Our parish and pastors have long recognized the dire need for more space. For over 10 years, they have been diligently looking for solutions, but because of COVID and the changing of bishops and pastors, this task has taken until now to complete a plan and get the approval process.”
Mr. Bolen said he was “very happy to announce that we have the approval of the diocese, the completed architectural plans, the cost estimates, the contractors, and most of the permits to begin, and in fact our Holy Ghost parish life center work has already begun. … This will include a new roof and new front doors. All the stained-glass windows both in the front and on the sides of the building will either be repaired or replaced. A handicap entrance with an elevator on the side facing the handicap parking lot will be installed. … This is much-needed additional room that will serve us well, now and into the future.”
The remaining $1.8 million for the project still needs to be raised.
“If each family will participate in the Holy Ghost Parish Life Center Building Campaign, it is feasible that we could pay this debt off in three years,” Mr. Bolen said. “And these are our goals: to have 100 percent of our parishioners participate and to pay off the remaining debt in three years. The formal kickoff of the funding campaign will be Sunday, May 3. Tonight, when you go home, consider an amount that you would be willing to pledge for this building fund over the next three years. In closing, I ask you to remember what our parish members sacrificed over 100 years ago to give us this holy church. And then ask ourselves, what are we willing to sacrifice to keep it thriving for the next 100 years?”
Marie Ward, chair of the 100th-anniversary committee, spoke at the dinner of those who came before.
“When I was first told that they were going to be renovating the original church building, the thought that came to my mind was we were given a gift by these people who probably had great trials—life probably wasn’t easy, but they were willing to sacrifice, and we are able to benefit from those sacrifices. It makes me think as well, too, what can we give as a parish community to those who will be here a hundred years from now?”
Donations to the parish life center project can be sent to the parish office at 111 Hinton Ave., Knoxville, TN 37917. Checks should be payable to Holy Ghost Catholic Church with “new parish center” in the memo line. Online donations may be made by scanning the QR code at holyghostknoxville.org/new-parish-center. Architect renderings and more details on the new center and parish history may also be found at the website. Renderings may also be found at gae96.com/project/holy-ghost-catholic-church.
Father Orr at the dinner said that “Tom mentioned, ‘Now, it’s our turn,’ and I’ve used that phrase more than once. We can’t count on those who have gone before us to use the QR codes or write a check. If you can consider it, a sacrificial thing … this is a special opportunity we have.”