St. Stephen's Church Iwaya In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Dominicans in St. Dominic's parish, the parish is undertaking another great project in the Archdiocese. The construction of a new outstation.
The Archbishop has named the new out station in honour of Rev. Bro. Stephen Lucas, O.P. for his great works and wonderful contributions to the progress of St. Dominic's parish and the Archdiocese.
The new St. Dominic's church, nicknamed "miracle church" was completed in 1994 in a record time of three years. During the construction of the church, the general impression was that the six masses said on Sunday would be reduced to four masses because of the massive size of the church. But according to the immediate past Pastor, it became obvious that the church may not contain the large number of the faithful that came pouring into the parish soon after the construction of the new church.
About three years after the dedication of our beautiful "basilica", the general impression is that there might be the need to increase the number of masses on Sunday to cope with the multitude of people that come to worship with us. Every Sunday a good number of people stand outside to participate in the liturgy. The parish is literally bursting out of its seams, the parking space for cars is congested and traffic situation after each mass is unbearable. This makes me think, "can anyone ever build a house for the Lord?" In all, we thank God and we are very happy to see such a large number of worshippers in our parish.
The Archbishop, Most Rev. Anthony Olubunmi Okogie however insisted that an outstation or a Mass station close to St. Dominic's is the best solution for a better management of the large crowd in the parish. The pastor acted in accordance with the directive of the Archbishop. In 1999, three plots of land were purchased and paid for in a developed and residential area of Iwaya on Gbeto Street, about 2km drive from the main parish.
In the early part of the year 2000, we started work on the architectural design of the church. If the church is to serve its purpose of decongesting the main parish then, it must have certain similarities with the main parish. The quality of administration and the liturgy must compete effectively with the main parish. The church structure must also be beautiful enough to attract St. Dominic's worshippers to the new outstation. These important points were put into consideration and presented to the architect. The architect then came up with a beautiful drawing containing all facilities needed in the outstation making the best use of the available plots of land.
The ground floor of the church as shown in the picture is divided into two parts. The first part is the Rev. Father's House with three bedrooms, a chapel, a kitchen, a living room, a storeroom and a lobby area. The second part of the ground floor contains the sacristy, a big hall, three offices and a maintenance room.
The church hall is on the first floor with a capacity of about 600 people and the balcony with a capacity of about 250 people. The church also has a very beautiful bell tower. All the structures mentioned and some others are now available for sponsorship by individuals, families and societies in the church; please contact the parish office for the price of any item you may be interested in sponsoring.
In commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the arrival of the Dominicans in St. Dominic's parish, the building of our new outstation will always remind us of our commitment to evangelisation and the task of carrying the good-news to every door step. There is no other better occasion for us to inaugurate the commencement of this great project, building for the Lord a new out station.
As we have said in the theme song for our miracle church "nothing is impossible when you put your trust in God..." I know that by the grace of our heavenly father, we will complete this project at a record time for the greater glory of His name.
I use this opportunity to appeal to all parishioners to generously support this great project as you have always done in the past. We thank you for your support of this Golden Jubilee of the Dominicans in St. Dominic's. We pray that as we set another landmark in building a new outstation you will continue to support. us. God bless you all.
Yours in Christ,
Very Rev. Fr. Paul 'Bola Oye, O.P.,
PASTOR
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