July 19,
2017
ARLINGTON,
Va. – Father James Hudgins, Pastor at St. Jude Catholic Church in
Fredericksburg keeps parishioners on top of the construction of the parish’s
new church…via a drone. "Everyone
in the parish loves to see the regular video updates from a camera-mounted
quadcopter drone, owned and operated by one of our St. Jude parishioners,” says
Hudgins.
The
parishioner, Andrew Flusche, is compiling the footage to create an amazing
time-lapse of the entire construction project.
“I am just a
drone hobbyist,” says Flusche. “I took
some pictures of the initial site prep with my drone because I was curious to
see the site from above. Father Hudgins and parishioners enjoyed seeing the
progress, so I continued.”
Flusche says he flies the drone once a week at the construction
site where the new church is being built on Lee Hill School Drive. “FAA regulations require that the drone is within my visual line
of sight at all times,” he says. You can follow the progress here, or via the
Saint Jude Catholic Church website here.
The church is scheduled to be completed in early 2018.
History of St. Jude Catholic church in Fredericksburg
The church has
been operating inside a former motorcycle retail store on Courthouse Road for
seven years. Prior to that, the church
was at a gym at 10800B Courthouse Road in Fredericksburg from 2003-2010. And when it first opened, Mass was held at
Covenant Funeral Home on Jefferson Davis Highway.
Father Hudgins became pastor in June, 2011. That autumn, he took a trip up to the Diocese
of Allentown and found some pews in Saint Bartholomew’s Catholic Church in
Brockton, Pa. Prior to that, the church used folding chairs and few people
knelt at the motorcycle shop.
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