DRAPER -- Catholics gathered Wednesday to watch the raising of a cross that will tower above the new Skaggs Catholic Center. When it is completed next August, the center, 11800 S. 300 East, will be the largest Catholic elementary and secondary school campus in the United States.
"Today we bless the cross that will dominate the 57 acres of the Skaggs Catholic Center," said The Most Rev. George Niederauer, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City. "Visible from the surrounding area, it symbolizes our gratitude to God for the progress on these new schools, gifts from the Skaggs Family Foundation."Likewise the cross, located on top of the clock tower, makes visible the purpose of this construction: the education of young people in the values of our Christian heritage. We ask God's blessing on the final stages of construction."
The 15-foot tall, stainless steel cross caught the sun's reflection as a crane placed it atop an 84-foot tower.
Bishop Niederauer said, "We honor this cross, this symbol of your love," during a prayer prior to its placement.
Bishop Niederauer called the center a "Christian vision of reality" and said it would support "a vision of what the ideal of education can be" when ground was broken for the project in August 1997.
The campus sprawls over 57 acres and will be home to the 290,000-square-foot Juan Diego Catholic High School, the 75,000-square-foot St. John the Baptist Elementary School and, eventually, the St. John the Baptist Catholic Church.
Juan Diego was the peasant to whom Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared more than 300 years ago in Mexico. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patron saint of the Americas.
When the schools open, they will provide classes for students age kindergarten through 10th grade. Eleventh and 12th grades will open as enrollment demands, according to Kathleen Hogan of the Skaggs Catholic Center. Students need not be Catholic to attend the schools. There's room for as many as 600 elementary-age students and the high school capacity is 1,750.
St. John the Baptist Elementary School opened in September 1997 in module classrooms at Blessed Sacrament School in Sandy.
The tower on which the cross is mounted is centrally located in a grotto that was based on a similar design at St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, Rome. The grotto will feature bronze statues of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Juan Diego, sculpted by Michael Dente.
Following the blessing of the cross, people attending the ceremony got a chance to tour the campus. Designed by MHTN Architects and built by Big-D Construction, the center includes 100 classrooms, extensive athletic facilities, a media center (complete with 14 miles of optic cable, according to a press release announcing the dedication), a 1,350-seat auditorium, a chapel, a dance studio and theater, choral and band rooms, a visual arts center and science and computer labs.
The complex also will be home to a day-care center for children older than 6 weeks, including extended day care for children attending the elementary school.