The University of West Georgia’s Campus Catholics organization will soon have a new place of their own next to campus on Maple Street. The Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta recently purchased a land lot at the corner of Maple Street and Howell Road.
“Our goal is to build a facility on the property that will benefit the Catholic students at UWG,” said Jerry Mock, Chairman of the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church’s Finance Committee.
The Archdiocese of Atlanta purchased the lot across from Kennedy Chapel in May and Mock says the process of building a new facility is now under way.
“UWG has never had facility specifically for its Catholic students,” said Mock. “There are anywhere from 300-500 students at UWG who identify as Catholic, and we decided that it’s time for us to create a place for these students to come and interact and do great things for this community and this university.”
Mock and his team are currently doing research to determine what kind of needs the facility would have and also to create a design for the new building.
“Right now, we’re in what you might call a building and design phase,” said Mock. “We are talking to other colleges and universities about their student centers and working to get an idea of what we might need for our students. My personal goal is to have a facility in place by next fall, but I have no control over that. I would like to see everything come together before the next fall semester begins.”
Catholic students have used UWG’s Kennedy Chapel as a meeting space for decades. The local Catholic church held mass at the chapel for many years until the building was donated to UWG in 1965. The new space would serve as a location in which the UWG Campus Catholics could hold meetings and services.
“We are working to get with the City of Carrollton as they have new guidelines for building on Maple Street,” said Mock. “We’re very excited. This has been a three-year process of looking at possibilities, existing buildings, and other things.”
To find out more, visit the UWG Campus Catholics website here.
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