"Now we will finally be under one roof,'' Boisvert said.
Several adjacent houses had been remodeled over the years into religion classrooms, offices, meeting rooms and other needs of the 400-family parish, Boisvert said.
Those houses will now be remodeled back into living quarters and rented out by the parish - to help pay the mortgage on the new center, Boisvert said.
"Father Kloman Riggie was the vision for this parish center,'' Boisvert said. "We put it into reality.''
Riggie, who served St. Joseph's as associate pastor and pastor for nearly 25 years, died in December before his vision could be realized.
In his honor, the large hall in the parish center has been named Riggie Hall, Boisvert said.
The center also contains a meeting/classroom wing with flexible rooms, a fully equipped kitchen, a small chapel and an office wing.
"The chapel has a beautiful stained glass window that had come from an older church in Baltimore and was sold to a private citizen years ago,'' Boisvert said. The window was obtained from that person and has been installed in the chapel.
Homewood Retirement Center had its beginnings at the site which the church now occupies, Boisvert said. In fact, the congregation moved into the old Homewood buildings at first.
"There was a bell used in the church then that had come from the Western Maryland Railway,'' Boisvert said. It will be on display in the place of honor in the hallway of the new center, he said.
Classrooms for Sunday school will give Denise Dagliano, coordinator of religious education, the space she has needed for so long.
"I believe her old office was actually a closet,'' Boisvert said with a smile.
Boisvert had been at Mount St. Mary's for the past seven years before coming to St. Joseph's to head up the renovation project.
"When it's finished, I will be going to a new church in Frederick,'' Boisvert said.
