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History of Resurrection Parish
 
On January 4, 1963, Archbishop Joseph Hurley issued an official proclamation which established the Church of the Resurrection.  The humble beginning of our parish Assembly was in a remodeled drapery  store, which became the first spiritual home of the original 400 families.  Father Henry Miron was appointed administrator, and celebrated the first Mass there on March 10, 1963.

Our first Parishioners built the first Church of the Resurrection, considered “temporary”; it was sited on a 20-acre plot on Old Highway 37, owned by the Diocese of Orlando.  On Christmas Eve 1967, Father Burns celebrated the first Mass at midnight in the new Church of the Resurrection.  For three years the Priest’s Residence and Church Office was a rented house, in which the Secretary’s office was in the laundry room! The   new rectory with space for an office was completed in 1971.

As the parish grew, Religious Education classes were held in rooms in St. David Episcopal Church and St. Paul Lutheran Church.  A fund drive was conducted to build a parish hall, with classrooms and a library.  Ground was broken in 1974 and the new building was officially blessed by Bishop Thomas Grady on April 30, 1975.  The mortgage was burned in April 1985. 

Father Val Sheedy was appointed Pastor and came to Resurrection on June 1, 1989, with instructions to establish a school and to build a new Church.  The parish hall had been designed with potential classrooms, but for several years the only school was a preschool.  A kindergarten was established in 1990.  “Real School” was begun with a first grade in 1991, with a promise from Father Val Sheedy that one more grade would be added each year until we had six grades. From the beginning, emphasis was placed on quality education.  As time went by, it was determined that we expand our school through the eighth grade.  With the demand for Catholic Education ever increasing, the school grew in numbers and classes were double streamed, beginning with Kindergarten  in the 1993--94 school year.  The first class of 25 students  graduated from the eight grade in 1999.

With the rapid school growth and ever increasing pressure to build a new church, a building fund pledge drive was begun in 1993. A new
north wing of the school was completed in 1994.  Bishop Norbert Dorsey dedicated the school in the spring of 1995, and we broke ground for the new church in May 1995.  Construction began that summer, but went slowly since it was one of the wettest summers on record.  The church was completed in October 1996.  The first official Mass was on November 1, 1996.  Bishop Norbert Dorsey, Father Val Sheedy and Parochial Vicar Father Andrew Mallick dedicated the church on January 19, 1997, with about 50 area priests and capacity number of parishioners and guests present.  Subsequently, the original “temporary” church was renovated and remodeled into four classrooms, two meeting rooms, two offices, restrooms, kitchen and a parish library.  The renovated building was renamed in honor of Father Val Sheedy.

In August of 1998 Father Matthew G. Mello was appointed pastor.  The Resurrection Catholic School continued to grow.  The first class of 25 students graduated from the eight grade in 1999.  In the fall of 1999 the first phase of a new middle school building was initiated between the school and the rectory.  
  
In 2001, Resurrection Catholic School received the Catholic Schools for Technology Award. In January of 1999, the Parish acquired the property contiguous to the Parrish Grounds; the building contained the offices of Dr. Alvin Fillastre. As these offices became our parish administrative offices, the former rectory was remodeled for school administrative offices.  Also, in the spring of 2002 the second phase of the Middle School, including a state-of –the-art science facility, was completed. In 2003, we celebrated our first 40 years as the Church of the Resurrection; Bishop Norbert M. Dorsey celebrated the Anniversary Mass.

The year 2004 brought good news and some bad.  The Resurrection Catholic School emphasis on quality education in the Catholic Christian tradition with high academic standards led to three prestigious awards in 2004:  The Distinguished Principal Award was presented to Mrs. Nancy Genzel in recognition of her work; the Outstanding School Board Award, was presented to the RCS Board acknowledging their efforts; and the Department of Education “No Child Left Behind,” Blue Ribbon School of Excellence Award was presented to the Parish for overall excellence in Education.   

In August 2004 we were hit by Hurricane Charlie, followed shortly
thereafter by hurricanes Fran and Jeanne.  These storms inflicted severe damage ton our Parish Church, School and Office buildings.  In the Church, because of a lengthy power outage, mold grew and Masses were celebrated in the Parish Hall for several weeks. The School Administration and Religious Education Offices were temporarily relocated so repairs to the water and mold damage in the school  offices could be completed and the offices refurbished.  All were able to move back to their original locations by May, 2005.

Despite these and other distractions we have continued to grow in many ways:

• Our RCS school enrollment has grown to just under 600 students;
• We added a soccer field in our Resurrection Community Center.
• We incorporated and teach Stewardship Time, Talent and Treasure as our Resurrection way of life supporting our local and diocesan ministries;
• We redesigned and initiated work in our music and choir area in the Church to provide a proper setting for our musicians;
• We conducted workshops for all our liturgical volunteers;
• We matched the Polk County Schools salary scale for our teachers;
• We initiated a Pre-Cana (pre-marriage) program for people preparing for marriage;  
• We initiated a very well received Emmaus retreat program for our Parish men and women. 
• We continued our Ecumenical outreach in the Lakeland Community.
• We continually hear people commenting on our friendliness and community spirit.

   Pastors through these 43 years have been Fathers Henry Miron, Thomas McGrane, William Corry, Thomas McMackin, Val Sheedy and since August 1998, Father Matthew G. Mello.

   We look forward to many years of continuing service in the Lakeland Community.

If you are new to our Community, we ask you to register by completing a registration form available in the Church office. Parishioners leaving the parish, permanently or temporarily, should notify the Church office.