Holy Family Parish raises funds in elegant style

Intermountain Catholic

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Fr. Patrick Elliott, pastor of Holy Family Parish, visits with each table. He relives a flash from the past when he was in the restaurant life in Los Angeles in Beverly Hills before becoming a priest.IC photos by Christine Young

OGDEN — The atmosphere was filled with elegance and style as Holy Family parishioners enjoyed an "Affaire" to remember at Union Station Oct. 5.

The social event was to raise funds to pay down the debt of the new church for which the ground breaking is Oct. 14. The church will be completed by the middle of next summer and the dedication will take place next fall.

"I am new to the parish, but the parish is 25 years old," said Father Patrick Elliott, pastor of Holy Family Parish, Ogden. "I have been here for the past two years. We have had socials where about one-third of the parish attends, such as the New Year’s Eve dinner, a Sedar Supper, and a St. Patrick’s Day dinner. When you have a Sedar Supper followed by a St. Patrick’s dinner side-by-side, that gets pretty tasting it all. We do these dinners to bring the parish together as a social family as we go to build our new church.

"This event is our very first as a fund raiser," said Fr. Elliott. "That is why we have come to Union Station and have kind of pulled out all the stops so the people are having a elegant dinner, which of course, they are over paying for, but it is the beginning of a fund raiser.

"That is what it is all about, bringing people of faith together to socialize, to be in fellowship and union, so that when they show up on Sunday to worship and communion they are not strangers."

Fr. Elliott was instrumental in helping the decorating committee turn Union Station into a ballroom where parishioners danced the night away.

"Before I became a priest, I worked in both design and the restaurant life in Los Angeles in Beverly Hills," said Fr. Elliott. "But the decorations were done by the committee. In our parish it is never a one-man show. It is making family. After all we call the church Holy Family. This is all about building community."

"Next year when we secure the date, you can be sure it is not going to be during hunting season," said Fr. Elliott. Because in Ogden they go hunting before they go to a social party. Next year we are going to fill the place."