Monday, Sept. 16, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
The church stands as testimony to what dreams, determination and faith can achieve.
It's Saint Joseph, Husband of Mary Roman Catholic Church, a $2.6 million house of worship and $1.2 million multipurpose complex that's risen from the desert to spawn a congregation of close to 4,000.
It's hard to believe Saint Joseph began in the Palm Mortuary Chapel on Jones Boulevard and Trinity Methodist Church on West Charleston. Those locations are where the Rev. Joseph Anthony gathered 50 parishioners in 1989 and told them one day they would worship in their own church.
Bishop Daniel Walsh gave Anthony the task of forming a congregation for the church to be built on five acres at West Sahara Avenue and Tenaya Way. The reverend began by giving guest sermons at Catholic churches around Southern Nevada. He also announced plans to build Saint Joseph.
"The first thing I tried to do was find a place on this side of town (where the church was being built) to celebrate Mass," Anthony remembers. "I spent a month looking for a building that would support a Mass."
The pastor at Trinity Methodist Church was happy to rent its chapel, and Anthony's flock met there and at the mortuary. After the first week, Anthony realized he had to get some sort of building up on the Sahara site fast.
Close to 40 families joined the original 50 parishioners that week.
Through donations from the congregation, modular buildings were constructed on the property. They were small and the roof leaked, but Anthony was happy to finally have his own church. He held his first Mass on May 12, 1990.
With a congregation of 500 by 1991, Saint Joseph committed to constructing a permanent multipurpose building that would substitute as a temporary church. Anthony knew he wanted a Spanish design, similar to the missions in Northern California.
Parishioners raised $700,000 over three months and borrowed the remainder of the $1.2 million from the diocese. Within seven months, the multipurpose facility was providing a temporary church hall, kitchen, offices and several classrooms. And already it wasn't enough.
"On the first week, we outgrew the building," Anthony says. "We moved in, and we had over 700 seats filled."
The reverend thought he'd be able to operate for several years by rotating Masses. But the congregation was eager to have a permanent church.
Anthony knew the diocese wouldn't allow him to construct a church that sat fewer than 1,000 people. To raise enough money for a building that big, he turned to Dan Healy, a development consultant who worked for the Catholic Church.
Healy had lived in the Las Vegas for 2 1/2 years and worked on fund-raising projects throughout Nevada for 21 years. He was aware of the church's needs and knew exactly what to do.
"I told them the more personal you can make the approach, the more likely people will give," Healy says. "They would be raising money by pledges and part from cash."
Anthony called his congregation together and did as Healy told him. They broke into groups, chose captains and went door to door to Catholic parishioners throughout Las Vegas. They were asked to donate money over a two-year period.
"We had over 500 volunteers who worked on fund-raising," Anthony says. "We had cards made with parishioners' names and addresses on them, and the volunteers knocked on their doors to donate."
"It was a complete act of love," says Meggan Debevec, a parishioner who worked on both the multipurpose and church projects. "I lived and breathed these projects every single day. But it was a great way to be part of the community. How many people get to say they built a church in their lifetime?"
Debevec was surprised at the volunteer turnout. She thought 200 would be good. When 500 parishioners arrived, she was amazed.
"We have an inspirational pastor," Debevec says. "He is the shepherd of his flock. We were all inspired. You know when you have these many people involved, God is on your side."
Anthony chose a Spanish design that would complement the multipurpose building. He admits "borrowing" design features -- the large courtyard and fountain, for instance -- from the Mission of San Carlos Borromeo de Carmel in Northern California.
Entering the church, you walk into a wide foyer capped by a 50-foot ceiling. Two bronze statues imported from Italy stand watch over the entrance. A massive cantara stone baptismal fountain carved in Guadalajara, Mexico, is the first thing you see before walking into the chapel.
"We wanted people to see the fountain first because, for all Christians, this is where life starts," Anthony says.
The church will accommodate 1,410 people. The 24,000-square-foot chapel and adjoining offices are ringed by 2 1/2 tons of stained glass. The altar and pulpit are cantara stone, and behind them loom three glass-tile-and-gold mosaics.
The center mosaic of Christ measures 26 by 10 feet. On either side are smaller mosaics of the Virgin Mary and a trinity of angels. Designed by artist Bruno Salvatori of Italy, they were shipped to Las Vegas in 1-by-1-foot pieces (230 for the Christ mosaic alone) and assembled in the church.
Salvatori spent five months creating the figures from glass squares. The backgrounds are finished in 24-carat gold.
"I saw a lot of people cry when they saw the faces," Salvatori says in a thick Italian accent. "The people are very friendly and religious at Saint Joseph's."
Helen Detmer was the only Nevada artist to work on the church. She created three black-and-white stained-glass overlay windows in three doors. Anthony had her do depictions of "Our Lady of Guadalope," "I Will Make You Fishermen of Men" and "The Raising of Lazarus."
"Doing these pieces was very inspiring," Detmer says. "You are surrounded by a beautiful church and it was peaceful working there."
Each door inlay measures 2 by 5 feet.
On Aug. 14, Saint Joseph, Husband of Mary Roman Catholic Church officially celebrated its opening. With its congregation still growing, Anthony projects family enrollments to reach 4,300 by the first of the year.
"We began in a mortuary and a Methodist church," Anthony says, pausing. "Now we are the third largest church in the diocese."
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