An architectural illustration of the new building for St. Dominic Church.

SAN ANTONIO • St. Dominic Church broke ground for its long-awaited new sanctuary with an outdoor Mass and ground blessing ceremony the evening of June 21. More than 1,000 people sat underneath a large tent and several small canopies which provided shade on a blessedly cloudy and somewhat cool summer evening.
The liturgy was celebrated by retired Auxiliary Bishop Thomas J. Flanagan, assisted by Father Eric J. Ritter, pastor of St. Dominic Church.

“I am excited to journey into the future with each and every one of you. It has been your dream to come together and build a church that will accommodate the growth that has and continues to take place,” stated Father Ritter. “The multi-purpose building in which we celebrate our liturgies no longer provides an opportunity for all to worship together comfortably. We are now called to move forward and make our dream a reality.”

Saying these were exciting times for the St. Dominic’s community, the pastor told of how the master plan and drawings were submitted to the archdiocesan Building Review Board, the archdiocese gave permission to build, and that construction would start shortly. He emphasized that the critical next step would be to secure the funds needed to provide for the entire construction, and he urged support through participation in the “Together We Build” capital campaign.

“We know that building our church will take sacrifice, but it is also a privilege to be a part of this endeavor. Imagine — we will be the generation that built the church,” Father Ritter exclaimed. “Each and every one of us must search in our hearts how we as individuals will reach out to assist and make the church our own. When we put our hearts and souls into something, we take ownership in helping it to stay alive.” Lastly, the priest prayed that “together our efforts will be blessed and our hard work will be rewarded.”

He concluded by saying he looked forward to the day when the congregation comes together to celebrate in the new church “and give thanks to God for making our dream come true.”

Following the Mass, a short groundbreaking event was held, followed by an outdoor dinner.

The new 21,000 square foot sanctuary will seat 900 in the main worship space and 100 in a side chapel. The church was designed by Morkovsky + Associates and will be constructed by contractor Curtis Stoddard. So far, parishioners have raised $2.2 million toward the $4 million cost. The existing church structure will be converted into a parish hall.

St. Dominic Parish, which was founded in September 1971, will be the first Catholic Church in San Antonio to build inside Loop 410 since 1993. The parish opened with 250 founding families, and currently has over 1,600 families, whose current worship space now seats about 400.

The parish’s origins stretch back to 1966, when a group of concerned parents expressed their desire to start a religious education program for their children. Since there was no place to house these children, many parishioners decided that the catechists could use their homes. A 10-acre tract of land on Ingram Road, which had been purchased by the archdiocese years before, became the new home for worshippers seeking to create a mission church from Holy Rosary Parish. Many deer could be seen roaming the lot — and blocks of salt would be put out for them to eat.

Outdoor Masses were celebrated in the open field with Father Pat McNulty, SM, from Holy Rosary, now deceased, who presided at many of the liturgies.

In the fall of 1969, arrangements were made to use the basement of St. Andrew Episcopal Church, and over 325 people attended the first Mass there. The leadership of St. Andrew later offered to share their new church building with the St. Dominic community until the community finalized plans to build a permanent sanctuary.

Although services were still being held at St. Andrew’s, parishioners continued the tradition of holding outdoor Masses during the warm months in the fields off Ingram Road.

In 1970, a building was purchased from Lackland Air Force Base, and the first Mass was celebrated in the structure on July 19 by Father Bernard Meyer, SM.

When St. Dominic’s was officially established as a parish in 1971, Father Arnold Anders was appointed the first pastor, and a house on Fermi Street was purchased and used as the parish rectory.

With tremendous growth in the surrounding area, construction soon began for a new parish building. Ground was broken for a multi-purpose building to serve as a temporary church that would later serve as a future community center for the parish.

The former church was converted into classrooms for the religious education program, and was known as JoAnn Hall.

Over the next 15 years, new programs and ministries were developed, and additional buildings were erected to accommodate the growing needs of the community. This included classrooms, the rectory and administrative buildings.