By Sam Elliott
Approximately 350 families and 1,100 total parishioners have come to call St. John Vianney Catholic Church their home church since it was founded a decade ago.
What began with masses in homes found a home for its first service — on Christmas Eve 2005 — in a former office building on 136th Street before Father Brian Dudzinski was officially put in place as the church’s pastor the first weekend of 2006.
Now 10 years later, the parish has since moved into the first building built on a 53-acre lot off Southeastern Parkway just north of 126th Street, but Dudzinski and the church staff and congregation have big plans for the location into the next 10 years and beyond.
“Right now we’re trying to raise money to build the parish life center,” Dudzinski said. “That’s going to be a key phase.”
That building will become the temporary church home once built, and will be able to comfortably seat about 750 in its sanctuary. The current building seats between 350-400, and was built and designed form the beginning to become the youth center building once the next structure is raised.
“It was designed to be a gym, but when you go in there you’d never know it,” Dudzinski said. “It was all very well thought out and well planned … This building wasn’t even part of the original master plan, but it was the least expensive building we could build to start.”
The church complex’s master plan was established in 2007 through a building committee, parish town hall meetings, the diocese and an architectural team. The first mass in the current building took place in Nov. 2009 and the parish rectory was added in Nov. 2012.
“This was all just a field originally,” Dudzinski said. “With the property we have and with the projected growth in the future, we should be in a good position to grow with that.
“For the size of our parish, we have a lot going on. That’s why we need a bigger space, just to accommodate it all,” he said. “We need it to grow because to be viable you’ve got to reach as many people as possible — and the right way… One of the things I did from the start was my philosophy was let’s build a parish with a spiritual base to make sure we’re doing things for the right reasons. Every ministry, everything we do, Jesus should be the focus.”
The church’s master plan includes the final church building, a school for kindergarten through eighth grade and the parish life center, which will be the next facility added to the complex.
“We’ve raised about $1.6 million in our building fund, but we’re really going to need probably close to $4 million for the next building, which is comparable if you look at different parishes,” Dudzinski said. “We’re hoping this 10-year anniversary will help.
“We have a couple big events we do as a parish every year, so we’re trying to focus them on celebrating 10 years,” he added. “Our gala, which is our big fundraiser for the parish, is April 9 … We have a feast day for the parish in August and we’re opening that up to the community, too. We always have a golf outing attached to that, too. This summer we’re going to try to have a concert here on the property celebrating the 10 years. There are a lot of things in the works we’re trying to do.”
Meet Father Brian Dudzinski
- Lafayette native
- Played college football for two years at Butler University
- Graduated from Purdue University in 1990
- Ordained in 1997
St. John Vianney history
July 2005: Bishop William Higi assigns Father Brian Dudzinski with investigating possibility of starting a new church in Fishers
Sept. 2005: First Sunday masses were celebrated in the homes of the Durle and Atherton families
Dec. 24, 2005: First mass celebrated in temporary church home, located in former office building at 14500 E. 136th St.
Jan. 2006: Father Dudzinski officially made pastor of St. John Vianney Catholic Church
April 19, 2008: Master plan and renderings unveiled for proposed church and campus at 15176 Blessed Mother Blvd.
Nov. 21, 2009: First mass celebrated in current church home, which will be used as the youth center building once funds are raised to build the parish life center and future church building
Spring Gala – “Celebrating America”
5:30-11:30 p.m. April 9
Blu Falls Arts and Event Center
8820 S. State Rd. 9, Pendleton
Tickets/more: SJVFishers.com
