Maronites prepping shrine and new church

This month, as their 48-year old church on Fourth Street is undergoing renovation, the parish is using nearby St. Mary’s Church building on Third Street. According to Rev. Elie Kairouz, pastor of the small parish for the past seven years, the renovation is nearly finished. Eventually, the site will continue as a shrine when St. Ann’s moves into a new home in Watervliet.

“We’re redoing the inside and putting a new roof on the building,” the Lebanese native priest told The Evangelist.

The building holds between 120 and 130 people comfortably he said. The intent of the renovation is to “give the building a complete face lift.”

Second century

Three years ago the congregation celebrated their centennial anniversary as a parish in Troy. Bishop Howard J. Hubbard attended the Mass.

St. Ann’s was established in 1905. The original church building burned in 1959 and the current building was constructed shortly thereafter.

Located in the Albany Diocese, St. Ann’s parish is a member of the Eparchy of St. Maron, headquartered in Brooklyn. There are two Maronite eparchies in the U.S.

Maronite Catholics, like other Catholics, are united with the pope. They trace their roots to St. Maron, a fourth-century hermit that lived a solitary life of fasting and prayer and who wished to preserve traditional Lebanese worship practices. Currently there are approximately five million Maronite Catholics.

Crossing Hudson

“Active parish life requires more space than we currently have at the Fourth Street building,” he said.

The new facility in Watervliet will have classrooms for faith formation, a gathering space for parishioners, offices and a rectory.

The pastor currently rents a room at the St. John the Evangelist rectory in Rensselaer. “Not only does a rectory serve as a home for the pastor; it serves as a place for parishioners to come, a central place for gathering, for business, it is a place for the people,” he commented. “The new infrastructure will provide all the space we need as an active, viable parish.”

Bilocating

There are about 800 Maronite Catholic families in the area. Many attend Roman Catholic churches and schools as well as liturgies at St. Ann’s.

“Many people come to our church so it is important to maintain the parish structure as well as we can,” said Father Kairouz. “The renovation of the Fourth Street church will bring it up to code and insure that the building can be of use for many years to come. Once we move to Watervliet, this building that has served us so well in the past will be maintained as a shrine to St. Ann. People will still be able to come and pay homage to our patron saint.”

“We aren’t going anywhere,” he added. “St. Ann’s may be small, but we are still alive and kicking.”

(Maronite liturgies at St. Mary’s will continue through the end of August.) [[In-content Ad]]