Members of the Our Lady of Angels Catholic Church celebrated 25 years as a parish in August.

As the church surpasses the quarter-century milestone, officials are looking ahead to future expansions of the Allen campus, Business Manager Tara Ellwanger said.

The details

The church is a Catholic parish in the Diocese of Dallas, and offers four weekend mass services as well as daily mass during the week. The church is led by Pastor Wade Bass as well as deacons Coy Pierce and Andrew Tanner.

The parish was founded Aug. 15, 2001 in response to population growth in Collin County and began offering mass at a Plano-area elementary school, with 389 people in attendance for the first mass, Ellwanger said. The church has since grown to an average weekly attendance of over 1,600, she said.

The church campus began with a temporary worship center built in 2004 and has since seen additions of an education and formation building, an outdoor basketball pavilion, a picnic pavilion and a children’s playground, Ellwanger said.

To mark the organization’s 25th anniversary, various events were held including movie nights, service days, a 25th anniversary gala and fundraiser as well as a 25th anniversary celebration. The anniversary celebration, held Aug. 15, featured an anniversary mass followed by food, a silent auction, a raffle, a museum display of church memorabilia and more.

“The goal of all these celebrations and events was to give glory and praise to God for salvation in Jesus Christ through His Church,” Bass said in a statement.

Looking ahead

The organization’s 25th anniversary gala and fundraiser raised over $230,000 for planned future expansions of the church’s Allen campus, Ellwanger said.

A master plan for the expansion includes three phases, with the first phase outlining a 53-space parking lot expansion and creation of a new right turn lane from the parking lot onto Ridgeview Drive. Church officials are aiming to begin construction on Phase 1 later this year, Ellwanger said.

A master plan for the church’s campus expansion outlines various future phases and additions. (Courtesy Our Lady of Angels Catholic Church)

Additional phases include building an on-site rectory, a new church building with expanded seating, additional parking and other site improvements. The full expansion is a multi-year project and timing is subject to fundraising, Ellwanger said.

“We have seen a steady growth in attendance over the past couple of years. This growth is welcome and fantastic, but it has also shone a light on some of the ways our current campus is hampering further growth,” Ellwanger said in an emailed statement. “Projects to expand our parking lot, building a rectory to relocate our Pastor on site and building a new, larger church in the center of our campus will enable us to welcome more people to our parish each week.”