By Christine Norwood, Peachtree Corners | In 2008 Father David Dye, recently retired pastor of Mary Our Queen Catholic Church, desired to relocate St. Gerard Catholic Church from Buffalo, N.Y., The Buffalo church had been de-consecrated because of failing attendance, and sought a buyer.
Window from Buffalo church
However, Father Dye learned that the estimated cost of $16 million was prohibitive. Last year it was decided to scale back on the project and build a new church, one that closely replicated the 105 year old Buffalo church, at an estimated cost of $8.5 million. The local parish is now in a capital campaign to meet its goal and ground breaking is set for spring, 2017.
Today the Mary Our Queen (MOQ) church has a new pastor, Father Darragh Griffith. He feels extremely blessed that MOQ is giving the shuttered church in Buffalo a second life as a place of worship by removing artifacts and bringing them to the new Church. Already the altars, statues and 105 year old oak pews have been removed and transported to Peachtree Corners.
The St. Gerard magnificent stained glass windows are stored at Lynchburg Glass, in Lynchburg, Va., where any needed restoration will take place before they are installed in the new church.
Another window from St. Gerard’s.
These century old stained glass windows were by famed Buffalo Artist Otto Andrle. They are historically significant for their American origin at a time when most church windows were produced in Europe. Andrle, a long-time employee of the Buffalo Stained Glass Works, founded his own studio in 1913. In 1926, he completed the windows for Our Lady of Victory Basilica in Lackawanna, N.Y. This is probably one of the largest and most important installations of domestically produced stained glass in the country.
All these items were given to the glory of god by faithful Catholics a century ago. MOQ feels a calling to save these items from destruction and put them back to their intended purpose in a Catholic Church.
The members of MOQ recognize the new church to be built is more than just a building. The preservation of the unique artifacts from St. Gerard, plus the combination of a century-old classic design of a century-old church beautifully adorned as a place of Catholic worship, with modern day energy efficiency, will make it a draw for area Catholics to worship at the Peachtree Corners location.
On April 28 of this year, an Atlanta Journal Constitution article forecasted Gwinnett County to become the largest county by population in 2040, surpassing Fulton County, and have the largest population in the state. And Peachtree Corners is the largest city in Gwinnett County! Now think for a moment that Mary Our Queen is the only Catholic Church in the largest city in what will become the most populous county in the state of Georgia.
The members of Mary Our Queen are excited about the future of their new church and they expect an influx of new members to the parish, among them, many returning Catholics.
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