After forty years, the Church the Good Shepherd outgrew a house-converted-into-a-church on Broadway. With money from the sale of the Broadway property, a gift of $100,000.00 from St. Mary’s Parish in Gatlinburg, a gift from the Extension Society, and the generosity of parishioners six acres on Cosby Highway was purchased from Doris Ann Stogner for $120,000.
Johnson Architecture drew up the plans and George W. Reagan of Knoxville was hired as the General Contractor with a ground-breaking ceremony on June 25, 2004. A contract was signed with Johnson and Reagan in July 2004 to construct the new Church for the amount of $814,992.00. During construction a wind-storm destroyed the superstructure.
After this setback all went well and the church was dedicated on April 27, 2005. Mass was offered on the beautiful altar donated by Joanne and Mike Newell in memory of Joanne’s mother, Connie Attianese. The gathering sat on temporary seating since the pews, donated by Jim Ethier in memory of C.J. and Lena Maye Ethier, his parents, had not yet arrived.
The decision, construction and move to the new location all took place while Fr. Dan Whitman, the pastor of
The crucifix, from Stemper Company, Inc. in Milwaukee with its corpus carved in Belgium, was put in place by the parishioners. The stained glass window surrounding the crucifix was created and donated by Carroll Shipley of Chattanooga and was installed in December 2005 by parishioners.
On Sunday morning, July 22, 2007, Frank and Dorothy Rusch presented the picture of the Good Shepherd (which Frank painted) that hangs in the Narthex. Veronica Hoffman Ortega created and stitched the quilted hanging, “Vous et Nul Autre” which hangs over the rear doors.
The Stations of the Cross came from the Sisters of Charity Retreat House in Nazareth, Ky. before it was raised. In August 2008, after a Sunday morning Mass, the Mary Shrine (donated by Jo and Jeff McCrory) was blessed and dedicated to Jo and Jeff’s mothers, Sonya Clifton and Clara McCrory.
The ambry containing the Holy Oils was made by Tom Hamilton, and hung in the sanctuary on March 30, 2011. The whole cabinet was made from a single oak plank.
In December of 2005 Scott Wilmet and his brother, Vic, were hired to construct an office for the parish manager, Dennis Bible, and an office/apartment for Fr. Bob.
September 24, 2007 would be the 40th anniversary of the First Mass at Good Shepherd (near the 100th anniversary of the first Mass offered in Newport by Fr. Emanuel Callahan at the home of Peter and Rose Frawley) and a frantic effort was made to complete the parish hall in time for the celebration. Fr. Bill Casey, who had served as a pastor in 1998 -1999 delivered the homily at the Anniversary Mass.
On September 27, 2010, we celebrated a second Mass at 11:00 a.m. followed by a 43rd anniversary dinner where our basement was officially named the “Dennis H. Bible Hall” in honor of a charter member of the parish and 25 year Parish Coordinator who died suddenly on August 18, 2010. Barbara and Tim Berkel arranged a small garden near the front entrance of the church in Dennis’ memory. They planted two Japanese maples and evergreens. Dennis bequeathed his worldly goods to our church. The net proceeds from the estate sale, $71,614.53, were applied to the reduction of the parish debt.
On September 23, 2011, reliefs of the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph were hung in the front of the church. Carved by the parish deacon, Deacon Otto Preske, these statues were donated in memory of Dennis Bible and plaques under each of the Reliefs read: “In Memory of Dennis H. Bible. Carved by Deacon Otto Preske, 2011. Choir chairs and a stand were additional gifts donated in memory of Dennis Bible.
On December 23, 2011, a final payment of $48,000.00 made to the Diocese for the erection of Good Shepherd Church. Also on Friday, December 23, 2011, Donald L. and Judith L Komurke agreed to sell 3.32 acres of land adjoining the
The 27 inch bronze casting in the vestibule with the title ”Peace” was created by Msgr. Louis W McCorkle of Hannibal Missouri in
A first informational meeting was held by Pat Farner in November 2012, to build awareness and generate interest for the work of SVdP.
Pam Ball and her family donated the Statue of the Good Shepherd and Children in memory of their parents, Robert Cleve Mathis and Laura Mathis Geohl and their step-father, Andy Goehl. The men of the parish built a foundation for the statue and it was formally blessed after Sunday Mass on March 30, 2014.
On Saturday, September 27, 2014, Tom Hamilton and Richard Turner constructed the frame for the concrete pad that would provide space for four columbaria. The first columbarium was delivered and put in place on Monday, October 27. The blessing of the columbarium was held after Mass on Sunday, November 2, All Souls’ Day. At that same time the cremains of Gerald Fuhr, who had died June 24, 2014 were placed in the Fuhr niche.
On November 1, 2014, a payment of $4,000 was made, the last payment on the debt for the rectory and additional land. Good Shepherd was out of debt!
On February 26, 2016,