Mass, ground-breaking ceremony mark beginning of Risen Christ expansion project

Bishop Peter Christensen celebrates Mass for the ground-breaking ceremony at Risen Christ Parish in Boise. (Courtesy photo/Risen Christ Parish)

By Philip A. Janquart

ICR Editor

The long-anticipated expansion of Risen Christ Church in Boise took a visible step forward on April 12, as parishioners gathered for a groundbreaking and blessing ceremony following the 10:30 a.m. Mass.

Bishop Peter F. Christensen, with current pastor, Father Ben Uhlenkott, and retired pastor, Monsignor Joe da Silva, by his side, presided over both the Mass and the blessing, marking a milestone after years of planning, preparation and fundraising.

For many in the pews, the moment was both celebratory and deeply meaningful—the continuation of a story that began more than three decades ago.

“They started gathering in 1992,” Parish Life Coordinator Audrey Weiss said in a December 2025 interview with the Idaho Catholic Register, recalling the parish’s earliest days meeting at Lake Hazel Elementary School. “That was over at Lake Hazel Elementary. In 2000, the building committee was formed to build this space, and then they started the groundbreaking in 2003.”

Bishop Peter distributes Holy Communion at the Mass for the ground-breaking ceremony at Risen Christ Parish. (Courtesy photo/Risen Christ Parish)

From those humble beginnings in a school cafeteria, the parish has grown into one of the fastest-growing Catholic communities in the Boise, Idaho area. What began with a handful of families has expanded into a vibrant parish now straining to accommodate its members.

At the weekly 10:30 a.m. Mass—the same liturgy that preceded the groundbreaking—the need is especially evident.

“That Mass is very well attended,” Weiss said. “You have about 100 folding chairs along the walls in the worship space, and another 50 in the narthex.”

That reality has driven the parish’s “Rooted in Christ, Rising Together” campaign, an effort aimed at expanding the existing sanctuary and improving facilities to better serve a rapidly growing congregation.

Parishioner John Stone, who leads the building committee, said the expansion fulfills a vision that dates back to the church’s original construction.

“It was built with the idea that one day it would be expanded,” Stone said. “That day has come.”

Bishop Peter leads the ground breaking for the long-awaited expansion of Risen Christ Parish in Boise. (Courtesy photo/Risen Christ Parish)

Plans call for increasing seating capacity by nearly 200, along with the addition of a cry room, expanded restrooms and improvements to parking and accessibility. The expansion will primarily extend the south side of the building, a design choice shaped by both cost considerations and current needs.

“This is the right size to accommodate the growth we have, the number of people attending [Mass] and the available funds we have,” said Father Ben.

The project is the result of years of careful preparation. Planning intensified in early 2023, shortly before the parish paid off its original mortgage—a key financial milestone that allowed leaders to focus on future growth.

Parish Life Coordinator Audrey Weiss, left, celebrates with parishioner Eileen Richards. (Courtesy photo/Risen Christ Parish)

Parishioners who had been contributing to the mortgage redirected their giving toward the building fund, helping the parish build significant reserves even before launching a formal campaign.

Today, leaders say the effort is about more than construction.

“This campaign is about more than adding seats,” Father Ben wrote in campaign materials. “It’s about making room for more hearts to be transformed, more families to feel at home, and more lives to be anchored in Christ.”

Weiss echoed that sentiment, emphasizing that the parish’s growth is rooted in its culture of welcome.

Father Ben Uhlenkott, pastor at Risen Christ, joins parishioners in a toast. (Courtesy photo/Risen Christ Parish)

“Part of the reason that we’re growing so much is we’re trying to get every parishioner here to practice radical hospitality,” she said. “Our parish is welcoming, and it’s something we really strive for. I think that contributes to the growth. And the Holy Spirit is at work.”

Sunday’s groundbreaking, led by Bishop Christensen, offered a tangible sign of that growth — and of the faith sustaining it.

For longtime parishioners, it was also a moment of continuity: a reminder that the same community that once gathered in a borrowed cafeteria is still building, still growing and still looking ahead.

As Stone put it, the expansion is simply the next step in a journey decades in the making.

Parish Expansion Facts:

• Estimated cost: $6 million

• Diocesan loan requirement: 70% of project cost secured

• Seating increase: 196, plus cry room for 34

• Additional work: Expanded bathrooms, more parking

• Architect: Greg Ugrin, who designed the original church

• Campaign timeline: Three-year effort launched August 2025

We are growing!

• Between 2004 and 2024, Ada County’s population grew by 85%

• Boise population is expected to continue to increase substantially in the next

5 to 10 years

• 600 new households registered at Risen Christ since May 2022 –

nearly triple the original count

• Infant baptisms grew from just 4 in 2019 to 17 in 2024, and a total of 26 in 2025.

• Becoming Catholic soared from 1 participant in 2019 to 20 in 2024 –

with 22 enrolled in 2025

• 1,953 individuals were served from our Mobile Pantry from May 2024

to June 2025