Purchase of the Land | Stage 1 | Stages 2 and 3

Purchase of the Land

Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, our God, has blessed us with 2.5 acres of land in the suburb of Calamvale, Brisbane in 1997. This land came with an existing dwelling on it – a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom house with 4 carports, and is situated at the front of the property.

Upon purchasing the land, planning had begun straight away in determining the best way forward taking into account all aspects of a project of this magnitude.

Stage 1

Church Hall and Sunday School Hall

Making a decision on what was to be done first as part of Stage 1, was influenced by two key limitations, time and finances. With the exponential rate at which the church congregation is growing, there was a real concern that already, with a little under 60 families at the time, the cosy St Mary and St Joseph's Coptic Orthodox Church at Coopers Plains, would be too small too soon and the need for more and bigger Sunday School classrooms was a must. Also, the finances were no where near enough to build what will be a traditional, authentic, Coptic Orthodox Cathedral of Queensland that will be costly and extend over a significant period of time.

This in mind, it was decided by the Church Committee (CC) that in Stage 1, the Church Hall and Sunday School Hall will be built. To build the Church Hall initially would be the cheaper and quicker option and be an interim place for worship for what is now approximately 100 Coptic Orthodox, 100 Ethopian, 75 Eritrean Orthodox, 30 Indian Orthodox, and a number of Sudanese Orthodox families (that is, approximately 1240 people and growing rapidly) until the Cathedral is built with God's guidance.

In 2004, construction begun on the Church Hall and Sunday School Hall and, through God’s grace, was completed in June 2005, with the first Divine Liturgy being prayed on the feast of St Mary on Sunday 21 August 2005. To see photos of the Church Hall and Sunday School Hall being developed, click here

Stages 2 and 3

Developing the blueprint

With Stage 1 complete, enthusiasm levels of the congregation hit an all time high and with God's grace, it was a matter of keeping the momentum going. Since this time, the CC and other experts, e.g. architects, engineers, etc within the community have engaged stakeholders, such as Brisbane City Council (BCC), and other subject matter experts required to help in the planning process in determining and implementing subsequent stages.

It was highlighted that to maximise the use of the church land, it would be ideal if the bit of land (totalling 2000 sqm) adjacent to the land and street could be purchased. The reason being is that this would provide the ideal access point (ie. driveway) situating the Cathedral, carpark and other dwellings in its ideal position.

In discussions with BCC, it was advised that it would be a matter of negotiation with the Department of Education since this land was owned by the school across the street. Without hesitating, the CC have been meeting with BCC and the Department of Eduction in recent weeks. Successful discussions of late have resulted in the Department of Education more than willing to sell off this bit of land to the church at a cost to be determined by an independent valuer. God willing, if things continue to progress accordingly, this will allow maximum use of the church land, allowing access from this newly acquired land. An initial draft blueprint showing the layout of the land is attached below.

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Virgin Mary's Cathedral Blueprint - View PDF

Confident that all goes according to plan, in the latest CC meetings, discussions were had in determining a high level plan. Of course being anxious about wanting to dedicate all resources to the development of the new Cathedral, the committee can't ignore the immediate issues of today, which if not addressed, will become problematic in due course. These pressing issues include:
• the inability to attract and retain youth from within and the wider community in the absence of providing a place for social activities for the increasing number of youth
• the inability to provide a means of social gathering for the increasing aging community and thus leaving them to be home bound impacting on their quality of life
• providing assistance to the increasing number of students and permanent residence coming from interstate and abroad. With Queensland being the “sunshine state” and host to the countries' finest universities, it attracts a lot of migrants and students from interstate (specifically NSW, SA, Vic and WA) and overseas from countries like Canada, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, India, New Zealand, North America and Sudan. With every non-indigenous Australian having migrated to Australia at one stage, whether it was back in 1788 (the first settlers) or now in 2009, and without knowing anybody, it would have been a real blessing to of had somewhere to go initially until one finds their feet. This is a service the Virgin Mary's Coptic Orthodox Church is very passionate about providing and with God's blessing and your prayers, will be able to do so.
• the current unstructured carpark which can prove to be hazardous.

The way forward

In the CC meeting held early April, it was acknowledged that the issues mentioned above need to take priority and decided the subsequent stages for the continued development of the church land:

Stage 2: • multipurpose sports court – mainly tennis, soccer, netball and basketball • youth outdoor facility – games and cinema room. • gym • library • accommodation • carpark accommodating 90 spaces Stage 3: • The Virgin Mary's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral

The rationale for this decision was that God has already blessed us with a place for prayer, the Church Hall, so to secure the foundation of the church and ensure its future is to first look after its' people and pursue the virtue of patience:
• "The youth are the future of the church... A church without youth is a church without a future." (His Holiness Pope Shenouda).
• "But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness." (1 Timothy 6:11)
• "knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." (James 1:3-4)
• "But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance." (Romans 8:25)
• "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." (Galations 6:9)
• "Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful." (James 5:11)

An Engineering Committee has been recently formed and met for the first time in April to discuss ideas and priorities for Stage 2 using the attached draft blueprint as a basis for discussion. As minutes of this meeting become available, this section will be updated to summarise points of discussion and key outcomes.

The diagram on the right is a 3D representation of the latest draft of the blueprint. Please note, this diagram is showing where structures will be positioned on the land and is subject to change. The actual design of the structures are in development.

If you would like to contribute to the funds needed to progress the project and build the Virgin Mary's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral, please click here.

All comments and suggests regarding the devlopment of the cathedral are welcomed and you can do so by submitting an Online Contact Form.

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