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Following the dedication ceremonies in church, the parish continued its celebration at Rancho Laguna Park for the annual St. Monica Parish Picnic. There was food, activities and fun for the whole family. Hot dogs and sausages were provided by the parish and picnickers brought side dishes to share with one another. It was a great time to meet other parishioners and neighbors, renew friendships, watch the kids at play and catch the energetic spirit of St. Monica.

See more pictures of the event in our photo gallery.

Big Trucks, Dirt Arrive As Construction Begins As the July heat settled into the Lamorinda hillsides, the nascent signs of construction began to appear on the St. Monica grounds.
What now looks like a random conglomeration of dirt and earth movers will in about a year welcome the parish community to a handsome, spacious education and activities center –- now known as PEACe. In the meantime, visitors and guests are urged to exercise caution when traversing the grounds. The parking lot along Camino Pablo remains closed pending a reconfiguration of the access and exit traffic flows. The Larch Avenue lot will remain open, though some parking spots will fall to the digger’s tools. Overflow parking is available across Camino Pablo in the Joaquin Moraga parking lot. Those large mounds of dirt in the Larch lot is material that will be used to create a pad for the new building. Work in both lots should be completed by early August. The Jubilee Garden memorial boulder and benches have been removed and stored for re-use. Several trees have been removed, but new landscaping around the PEACe building, courtyard, and along Canyon Road and Larch Avenue will more than make up for the short-term loss of trees. In fact, the Moraga Design Review Board considers St. Monica’s final landscaping plan a model for future projects along the town’s scenic corridors. Watch this space for updates.

May 27, 2005

WE BUILD PEACe

PEACe Construction, Phase One, Begins in June; Here's Where to Park

The first phase of construction on the St. Monica Parish Education and Activities Center will begin in mid-June and last about 6 to 8 weeks. During this time, parking in the two main church parking lots will be impacted. First, the Camino Pablo lot will be closed in order to reconfigure it for wider (and safer) driving aisles, a convenient passenger drop-off and pick-up location next to the Sanctuary building, and six handicapped-accessible parking spaces, including one or vans.

During this phase, the Larch Avenue parking lot will be the only one available for on-site parking. Since this will result in a temporary shortage of 28 parking spaces, parishioners are urged to allow extra time when attending services. The Principal at Joaquin Moraga School across Camino Pablo from the church has kindly offered the school's parking lot for use as needed, so please take advantage of this option.

Expansion of the Larch Avenue parking lot, also part of Phase One, will include replacing parking spaces that must be removed to make way for the new PEACe building and courtyard. Drivers and pedestrians are urged to use caution when traveling on church grounds near construction zones. The Parish Center will remain open during the construction phases. Temporary informational signs will guide visitors to the center and Sanctuary.

Watch this space for updates on future construction phases.

May 1, 2005

	GROUND IS BROKEN; PEACe IS AT HAND The emotion of the day was evident. The parish founders, the young families who are a portrait of the next generation of St. Monica, and everyone in between came together on Sunday, May 1, in what was truly a multi-generational celebration of past, present and future.
For many, to witness groundbreaking for the new Parish Education and Activity Center (PEACe) was the commencement of a building project after a long and protracted process of approvals. Cath McGhee, former pastoral administrator, summed it all up: "Sunday was the culmination of so much time and energy given by so many people from the St. Monica community to the PEACe project. Personally, I couldn't hold back the tears. The dream of more space for ministry seemed easily achievable; it turned out not to be so, and the journey was fraught with bumps, if not land mines." Among those contributors were two very young parishioners. Hailey Finnane and Christopher DeMatteo set up a lemonade stand and raised $31.81. St. Monica's pastor, Fr. Paul Minnihan, suggested that this gesture had immense symbolic value. "A new generation of young Catholics stands in our midst, and they want to share their God-given gifts with us," he said. "With these young feet in our soil, we can be a people of hope. Let's acknowledge this." Those with the project's oversight agreed. Finnane and DeMatteo shoveled the soil. Here is glimpse of the future, St. Monica.   The future is very bright. More Pictures...

(Watch this web site for updates in the coming weeks)

Read the history:
PEACe Archive Page 1

Also see photo gallery