Church members gather in Meridian, Idaho, for the temple groundbreaking ceremony held on Saturday, Aug. 23.

Marianne Holman Prescott

MERIDIAN, Idaho On a breezy summer day in an open field just south of the Boise River, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and others in the community gathered Saturday morning for the groundbreaking ceremony commemorating the start of construction on the Meridian Idaho Temple.

With the Boise River bottom and beautiful Idaho landscape as a backdrop, an excited crowd watched as Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles grabbed a shovel and joined other church leaders to break ground for the states fifth temple.

Nothing could be more important than to have a temple for these people in this area, Elder Bednar said. For people in the community at large this will be a beautiful place not exclusive to Latter-day Saints.

Once completed, the temple announced by President Thomas S. Monson during general conference in April 2011 will serve Mormons living in the Treasure Valley and its surrounding region.

It is a marvelous step forward every time we have either a groundbreaking or a dedication, said Elder Kent F. Richards, who serves as a Seventy and executive director of the temple department for the LDS Church. Another temple is underway and immeasurable blessings will come to all, not only the saints in this area, but especially to those who come into the temple.

Located only 12 miles from the Boise Idaho Temple, the Meridian temple will reduce current demands on the Boise temple and accommodate the development and growth in surrounding areas.

We were surprised but excited, said Grant Francis, who serves as president of the Kuna Idaho East Stake. We have lived here for 15 years and have seen the area grow. It is exciting to be a part of it. Means we better utilize our temple as we participate in hastening the work.

Although Meridian has been on the map since the 1860s, it wasnt until the 1920s that members of the LDS Church moved to the area. For a few years members would travel to Boise or Nampa to attend church, and it wasnt until April 1932 that the first organized meeting took place.

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Idaho Mormons, community members gather for temple groundbreaking

CLARKSVILLE Water has long been a problem in the basement of Clarksville Christian Church, but parishioners did not realize how big a problem until they brought in a contractor to assess the situation.

We started having a lot of water in the basement after a heavy rain, said church elder Bob Dobbins. The church brought in a couple of contractors at different times over the years but until you dug down, there was no way to know how bad things were.

When Whipkey Construction of Carmichaels began to dig and assess where the water was coming from, there was no turning back. The small congregation quickly faced a charge of about $47,000 to take care of the problem.

We thought we could seal the foundation to stop the water leak but the block was just breaking apart in your hands like putty. It left us with no other choice but to replace the wall, Dobbins said.

He credits the generosity of members through the years, along with the support of the community at church dinners for contributing to a reserve fund that will help pay for the project.

Well be totally broke by the time this work is over with, Dobbins said. We are going to start to have dinners more often. Since this wasnt weather-related or catastrophic, we couldnt collect anything from our insurance.

It is going to take a lot of church dinners to build the churchs reserve fund to a healthy level again. Hopefully, it wont face any other issues with facilities, or the need to replace another wall anytime soon.

It was something that had to be done, Dobbins said, especially after the situation turned scary.

The wall being replaced runs the length of the front of the church. When construction workers removed the earth that faced it, the wall began to buckle, Dobbins said.

We were lucky the walls didnt cave in on us. It was the whole front wall that we had to contend with and then we were afraid the front steps were going to cave in, too, Dobbins said. We found out there was no footer.

Original post:
Wall crumbles to the touch at Clarksville church

This is a rendering of the interior of the new St. Frances Xavier Mother Cabrini church.

St. Frances Xavier Mother Cabrini Church Pastor Frank Lopez showed a rendering of the new church Wednesday. The diocese will have a groundbreaking ceremony Sunday.

St. Frances Xavier Mother Cabrini Catholic Church will break ground on a $4.5 million sanctuary on Sunday.

Construction is expected to take from 12 to 14 months.

"We have been working tremendously hard to make our vision of our church come true," said the Rev. Frank Lopez. "It's been a while since we moved to our temporary church which is our multi-purpose building."

Rosie Torres, director of religious formation, said it's exciting to finally be able to break ground.

"The church was first established about 1993," she said.

Lopez said it's taken longer than they had hoped to start construction at 12200 Vista del Sol but for a good reason.

"We didn't want to just build a building, put church furniture in there and call it a church. We wanted a church that represents the community and shares the start and history of our faith with the missions," Lopez said.

The church hired Hyndman and Hyndman Architects, a California firm that has designed numerous churches including Mormon temples. Renderings of the new church inside the multi-purpose building feature a mission style building that will contain pews surrounding the altar in the center. A baptismal font will be at the entrance of the sanctuary.

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Catholic Church on East Side to break ground on sanctuary Sunday

Mansfield, TX (PRWEB) August 22, 2014

Design-build commercial modular construction firm Ramtech Building Systems of Mansfield, TX has announced that the First United Methodist Church of Blue Ridge, Texas has approved the design portion of the company's design-build proposal for the construction of a new 10,250 square foot modular church building that will be placed on the Churchs new 18 acre site. The estimated $1.2 million project will be configured as an L-shaped structure in order to maximize the available space for a worship center, three offices, eight adult and childrens classrooms, and a daycare center. This will allow First United to replace their existing facility with a new modular building that can meet their current needs for the next three to five years. The Church ultimately plans to construct a permanent building complex which will then allow the modular building to be used exclusively by the youth ministry. As the general contractor for the modular construction project, Ramtech will manage all of the site preparation for the new building and parking lot, including the extension and connection of the utilities as well as installing the pad-on-grade foundation. A HardiePanel embossed stucco siding with an elastomeric paint finish will be used for the exterior, while the interior will be finished with vinyl covered gypsum wall covering, commercial grade carpet and vinyl composition tile flooring, and a lay-in tile ceiling. Ramtech will also provide the wood steps, ramps, and landings for the building.

The First United design-build project is another in a long list of church building contracts that Ramtech has secured over the last three years. As part of the company's continuing focus on developing modular church building projects for faith-based organizations, Ramtech was United Methodist's first choice based on the company's successful performance in completing two high-profile education facilities for the community's local Blue Ridge Independent School District. According to Gary White, Ramtech's Vice-President of Sales, "Seeing firsthand how we were able to provide sophisticated modular buildings for the local school district made First United very comfortable in selecting Ramtech for their new church building". Once the manufacturing of the modular sections begins, Ramtech expects to have the project completed in less than 120 days.

The First United Methodist Church of Blue Ridge is located in the rolling hills of north central Texas 50 miles north east of Dallas in one of the many small farming communities in northern Collin County that is now seeing rapid development. The modular building for the First United project will be designed and manufactured at Ramtechs Mansfield, TX manufacturing facility, part of a 20 acre development located in the southern part of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The company has convenient access to the major transportation arteries that serve cities throughout Texas and the Southwest. Structured as a vertically integrated design-build construction company, Ramtech provides space planning, design services, manufacturing, site construction and finish-out on every project they produce. The company maintains a consistent workforce of production workers and supervisory personnel with an average of 13 years experience, many with tenures over 20 years. This experience, coupled with Ramtechs approach to modular manufacturing and construction, allows for greater control at each step in the building process resulting in significant time and money savings for their clients. For more information, visit the company's website at ramtechmodular.com.

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Ramtech Building Systems Selected For New Modular Church Project

You've never loved your church members and you never cared if the church lost money.

Yesterday, former City Harvest Church (CHC) investment manager Chew Eng Han continued to assert that the megachurch's founder, Kong Hee, had deceived those close to him.

He accused Kong of falsifying information - such as the church's attendance figures - and for choosing not to recoup the money sunk into singer Sun Ho's American album.

Chew, Kong and four others are accused of misusing more than $50 million of church money to finance pop singer Ho Yeow Sun's music career and covering up their tracks. (See report below.)

Yesterday, Chew continued his cross-examination of Kong, who is the second accused to take the stand after former board member John Lam.

Chew, a former CHC fund manager, told the court that Kong had urged churchgoers to donate to the building fund despite not doing so himself.

"During the years of the bonds being issued for the Crossover, from 2007 to 2010, you could have put your own money into the Crossover instead of buying personal properties for yourself."

The Crossover Project was the church's attempt to evangelise internationally through Ho's secular music.

Chew added later: "You withheld yourself from giving ... tithes to your own church despite being the founder and senior pastor and... the one on stage who challenged thousands to sacrifice for the building fund."

GAVE MONEY

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Chew to Kong Hee: You didn't give to church

Click photo to enlarge

File photograph by John Medina The St. George Coptic Orthodox Church is hosting its sixth annual Egyptian Festival at 395 W. Rincon Avenue in Campbell. The festival opens tonight from 5 to 9 p.m. and will continue through Sunday.

The St. George and St. Joseph Coptic Orthodox Church is sponsoring the sixth annual Egyptian Festival of Campbell.

The festival opens Aug. 22 from 5 to 9 p.m., and will continue through the weekend, Aug. 23-24.

"This year's event is very special," said festival director Nagy Gad.

Gad said that this is the first year the new church is open after construction.

The building is Northern California's first Coptic Orthodox church to be built from the ground up, according to Gad.

The festival will boast a "Sphinx Playground" with games, face painting, activity booths and a Nefertiti bazaar souvenir booth. Folklore performances are scheduled throughout the weekend.

Traditional Egyptian fare will be available from the King Tut Buffet and Karnak Caf. Options include grilled meat, sandwiches, wraps, vegetarian dishes and desserts such as baklava and konafa.

Gad said the church has seen more people attending the festival over the years.

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Campbell: Sixth annual Egyptian Festival returns Aug. 22-24

Two of the country's largest developers plan to build a $150-million high-rise apartment complex at Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea Avenue in Hollywood.

Reinforcing the area's residential building boom, the project called Hollywood Horizon would be built on a corner that has had a church since 1959. The intersection on the western edge of Hollywood Boulevard's commercial district is near some of L.A.'s top attractions, including the famed TCL Chinese Theatre.

"This is a very important property in the sense that it is the gateway to Hollywood," said William McMorrow, chief executive of Beverly Hills real estate investment firm Kennedy Wilson, one of the two developers of the apartment complex.

Indeed, a shiny public sculpture called Hollywood La Brea Gateway stands on the southeast side of the intersection. The stainless-steel gazebo popular with picture-taking tourists is held up by statues representing actresses Dorothy Dandridge, Mae West, Anna May Wong and Dolores del Rio.

Its less glamorous neighbors across the street, however, include liquor stores, a massage parlor and a pawn shop, remnants of Hollywood's rougher-edged past. Some recent real estate projects failed, but there are signs of a turnaround.

Just south of the intersection on La Brea is a $120-million apartment complex called the Avenue, which was reborn in 2011 as a rental property after the original developer went bankrupt trying to build condominiums on the site.

To the east, at 7060 Hollywood Blvd., is a once-shabby 1970s office building that Kennedy Wilson and its developer partner LeFrak Organization gutted and renovated in 2008 after a previous owner unsuccessfully tried to convert it to condos. Today the tower houses offices of concert promoter Live Nation Entertainment Inc.

Now LeFrak and Kennedy Wilson are turning their sights on the northwest corner of Hollywood and La Brea, where they plan to build Horizon Hollywood, a trio of apartment towers with shops and restaurants.

"This is a community going through a major rejuvenation," said Richard LeFrak, chief executive of the LeFrak Organization, a prominent New York real estate firm.

Since 2003, there have been 3,326 residential units completed in Hollywood, and 1,145 more are under construction, according to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. An additional 3,675 residences not including Hollywood Horizon are in planning stages.

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Developers have faith in church site on Hollywood Boulevard

Former Catholic priest Rodney L. Rodis who lived a secret life as a husband and father of three children died as a prisoner earlier this month, after stealing at least hundreds of thousands of dollars from two Louisa County parishes.

Rodis, 58, was serving an 18-year prison sentence for embezzling money intended for church construction, tsunami relief and mission work in Haiti, among other causes. The money was used to support Rodis wife and children.

He also wired hundreds of thousands of dollars to his native Philippines, according to evidence presented in court leading up to convictions of 10 counts of felony theft in 2008, in addition to other related convictions.

Rodis died on Aug. 5, according to Chiles Funeral Home in Richmond. At the request of his family, a death notice was not provided, and a cause of death was not available.

Rodis wired at least $515,000 to the Philippines, according to authorities, who said at the time of the investigation Rodis bought properties there, including a three-story mansion.

We are praying for Mr. Rodis family and for Mr. Rodis himself. May his soul rest in peace, Catholic Diocese of Richmond spokeswoman Diana Sims Snider said Tuesday.

At the time Rodis was embezzling funds, St. Jude Catholic Church parishioner Toni Seay was the religious education director for the church in Mineral. On Tuesday, a day after learning of Rodis death, she said his lies and thefts hurt people so badly, because he seemed like such a good person.

Seay said she rarely saw Rodis on church grounds during the week. She had assumed he was spending that time at his other parish, the nearby Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. Rodis had actually spent much of his time near Fredericksburg with his secret family.

His homilies related to marriage and children, and relationships. And it was great. You connected, Seay said. And he always ended his homilies with: love each other and be a good Christian.

bshulleeta@timesdispatch.com (804) 649-6391

Original post:
Former priest dies as prisoner after embezzling from Louisa parishes

Press Release August 19, 2014

Villar SIPAG Unveils Santuario de San Ezekiel Moreno

? Sanctuario de San Ezekiel Moreno is the newest church in Metro Manila. It is a project of the Villar Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance (Villar SIPAG), the corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm of Vista Land.

? The construction of the church started in May 2011. It is in honor of the Spanish Recollect who served as the parish priest of Las Pias from 1876 to 1879. His bone relics will be housed in the church. It is located in the compound of the headquarters of Villar SIPAG, C5 Extension Road, Las Pinas.

? Santuario de San Ezekiel Moreno is designed by Architect Claude Edwin Andrews, who is also the architect of the St. Therese the Little Flower Shrine across NAIA Terminal 3. It features architectural elements inspired by the Baroque Spanish colonial period and combined with modern structural technology with a cathedral ceiling.

? The 700-seater church will be a column-free edifice, thus it eliminates obstructions in viewing the altar from any point within the church. The church has stained glass doors and windows on both sides providing cross ventilation that lends a bright and airy atmosphere inside.

The interiors of the Santuario de San Ezekiel Moreno was done by Arch. Joey Amistoso. The Spanish Baroque retabllo will have Christ on the cross and the tabernacle at the center niche complimented with the image of San Ezequiel on the right niche and St. Joseph on the left. On top of the Crucified Christ will be the sunrayed Holy Spirit dove over Our Lady of Buensoceso.

The retablo and the entire sanctuary area is enhanced by a grand naturally and artificially lighted dome over it with the insignias of the four evangelists rightly placed on its four corners. Beyond the retablo wall, there are two side altars dedicated to Filipino saints, San Lorenzo Ruiz and San Pedro Calungsod.

? There are landscaped gardens on both sides of the church and a driveway with a Porte Cochere to protect the churchgoers from the rain. There is a loft for the churh choir, which will also feature a wooden musical organ to be built by the Las Pinas organ builders. There is a museum about the life and times of San Ezequiel Moreno so that the churchgoers will get to know the Patron Saint of Cancer Patients.

The church has an Adoration Chapel, and a Rectory.

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Villar SIPAG Unveils Santuario de San Ezekiel Moreno

Today

Support groups

Church of the Open Door: 8 Carlisle Court, West Manchester Township, Celebrate Recovery, 7 to 9 p.m. with worship, teaching/testimony and small group interaction. Refreshments will be provided. For details, visit http://www.codyork.org/cr.

AWANA program

Zwingli United Church of Christ: 403 W. King St., East Berlin, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., teaches children about the Gospel of Christ and how to serve Him. For details, call Rhonda at 717-654-0727.

Employment Support workshop

First St. John's Lutheran Church: 140 W. King St., York, offers a free employment support workshop 11 a.m. every Thursday. The workshop is designed to aid unemployed and underemployed people in their job search. For details, call the church at 717-843-8597.

Lifetree Caf

Friendship Community Church: 3380 Fox Run Road, Dover Township, will host Lifetree Cafe 7 p.m. today and 7:30 p.m. Saturday. The program, titled "Encountering God: What Ancient Practices Can Teach Us Today," features a short film depicting how various groups and individuals have tried to grow spiritually. Admission is free; snacks and beverages will be available. For details, contact Dennis Hall at 717-779-0400 or dennis@friendshipcommunity.org.

Grief support

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Church news, events for week of Aug. 21 through Aug. 27