Mission is to build new Somerton church

Builder Bradley Holcom plans on "wowing" drivers along Highway 95 with a new church he will erect in Somerton.

Looming large in the distance, the church will be designed in a classic Spanish colonial style that is a throwback to ornate Catholic churches of the Southwest a century ago, even two centuries ago, he says.

"We hope this will be one of the most beautiful churches in the county," said Holcom, owner of AB Builders, the Somerton firm that plans to build the new Catholic church.

"And it will have an old aspect, as if it were 200 years old. We want its beauty to be seen from the mesa, prior to arriving in Somerton."

The church will absorb the membership of Somerton's smaller Immaculate Heart of Mary Church and take its name, Holcom said. But he also sees it drawing people from throughout south Yuma County and even from neighboring Mexico.

It will have a capacity for 800 to 1,000 to accommodate the area's growing population, much of it Catholic, he said.

Holcom hopes the church can be completed in three years. But that's assuming the financing can be lined up for a project he says could cost $5 million, including the land and building.

Holcom has pledged to donate between five and 10 acres of land he owns at Jefferson Avenue and newly designated Avenue E as the site, and he says the project can be financed in part from the sale of the current Immaculate Heart of Mary Church. But he says he is seeking $2 million in contributions from the community to complete the package.

"I want it to be a community effort" in terms of monetary or in-kind donations to the church, he said. "I can't do it alone, I'm going to be seeking the support of the community at large."

Local professional engineers Vianey Vega and Najah Edais and architect Terry Thompson are doing the design and engineering work for the project, Holcom said.

Holcom stressed that the church's design is only preliminary. But, he added, "what I want to do is bring a classic design into a church, and by the time we finish it, it looks like 100 years old."

He said he draws his inspiration in part from the Immaculate Conception Church in San Diego but also from a church he saw during a visit to Interlochen, Switzerland.

The Swiss church was Gothic and ornate on the outside, Holcom said, but on the inside, it was simpler in design, consisting of little else than stuccoed walls, a tile floor and benches for parishioners. He called the design "minimalistic," one intended to allow church members to devote full attention to worship and to reflect on their spirituality.

Holcom and Monsignor Richard O'Keeffe of Yuma said growth in the Somerton area necessitate a new and larger church.

"We have received a very generous offer from Mr. Holcom, an individual who donated the property on which the church would be built," O'Keeffe said. "That area is exploding with more people and we must serve those people. It will offer them the ability to worship in comfort and support their spiritual needs."

O'Keeffe said he doesn't think there will be any problem raising $2 million in donations to help pay for the church.

"From what I've seen, we have conducted a successful campaign, and when people begin to see that we are developing for their spiritual needs, they are very generous. The people in Somerton have been very generous, and the people will continue to be generous in the future."

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Sun staff members Jennifer Lovell and John Vaughn, and Bajo El Sol writer Cesar Neyoy contributed to this report.