Orange Grove parish will get new rectory, office

By the end of this year, parishioners at St. John of the Cross in Orange Grove will be able to conduct parish business with their pastor at a new office and Father Prince Kuruvila will have a new rectory for a residence.

The parish broke ground on the new facility on Sunday, May 6, before the 11 o’clock Mass. Building Committee chairman Rick Svetlik said the 85-year-old parish rectory was recently demolished to make way for the new structure.

The Marshall Company, owned by Richard Dobson from Corpus Christi, has been selected to build the office and rectory. A.L.W. Engineering and Naismith Engineering did the schematics for the structure.

The parish office will occupy 1,100 square feet and the rectory will be housed in 2,100 square feet of space. Planning and preparation for the construction has has been ongoing for several years, Svetlik said.

Father Kuruvila thanked members of the building committee and the finance and parish councils for their hard work and support for the project. Msgr. Louis Kihneman, Vicar General of the diocese of Corpus Christi blessed the site and led those present in prayer.

Msgr. Kihneman, Father Kuruvila and members of the building committee took shovels in hand and broke ground for the new building. Other members of the building committee include Tom Karkoska, Don Rokohl, Alice Wright, Joe Ortiz, Ernest Henderson and Diana Trevino.