Saint Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church marked the culmination of a multi-year, $78 million project on Sept. 27 with the formal dedication of its new home.
Soaring skyward above a tree-lined plaza, the transformed central building gathers church, chapels, parish halls, a café, and many additional areas for fellowship and learning across four levels.
The project increased the footprint of the nearly 80-year-old campus by 65%. However, the Rev. Dr. Christopher D. Girata, church Rector since 2016, noted that this transformation was about far more than square feet.
“Space, although important, was never the highest good,” he said. “The highest good is the way that the building helps to ‘build up’ our community.”
Funding for the project came from the community itself through the St. Michael’s Building Our Future capital campaign, which was launched in September 2023.
The campaign laid a three-part foundation to ensure a future-focused result: physical and infrastructure upgrades for long-term sustainability; expanded community spaces to encourage gathering and deeper fellowship; and enhanced educational spaces, including many within the neighboring Saint Michael Episcopal School.
The project broke ground in December 2023. As construction progressed, Building Our Future culminated in March 2025 with more than $76 million raised. Upon reaching that milestone, Girata lauded the humbling “faithfulness and generosity” that had enabled the success of the largest capital campaign ever undertaken by an Episcopal Church in the United States.
Fast forward to the first Sunday of August this year, and many doors to newly renovated areas opened softly for the first time. Several events were hosted in the first few weeks alone. Girata envisions a future in which all neighbors can view the new campus as their own.
“My hope is that it becomes a gift to the city,” he said. “We’d love for community partners who are doing great work in different neighborhoods to host meetings and fundraisers in this space. It doesn’t necessarily have to follow a worship experience, because although a lot of people have access to spaces like this, not everyone does.”
To be sure, the spirit of fellowship was in the air on September’s official Dedication Day, which was, not coincidentally, hosted on the annual celebration of the Feast of St. Michael. Following a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony, St. Michael’s plaza along Douglas Drive overflowed with music, laughter, and the scent of lunch on the grill.
As parishioners departed to begin a new week, another of the Rector’s dreams for this new campus came to fruition: “It’s in the leaving of the building that we own our true mission. When we come together, we pray, we learn, and we build our relationships … and when we go out and serve the world, that’s when we become the kind of church that we’re called to be.”
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