ALLELUIA! We survived Easter! Thanks to all who made
this celebration so special: the lectors, ushers, servers, environment
decorators, musicians, Eucharistic ministers, my brother priests, and all who
attended and sang and prayed. ALLELUIA!
Meanwhile, the renovation of our church exterior
continues. The large stone cross on top of the tower has been removed. It was
held on literally by chicken wire and aluminum foil. I breathed easier after it
was taken down. All the stone has now been taken off the exterior of the tower,
and by the time you read this they should be removing the stone from the front
of the church. They will start at the top and work their way down to the
bottom. Once there, they will then start installing the new stone, starting
this time at the bottom and working their way up. It should take a couple of
months. Then they will go on to replace the front of the rectory.
They also have been busy in the interior of the first
floor of the rectory, framing out the new nursery and the new, more usable
meeting space. Through all this my brother Paulists have been extraordinarily
patient and understanding with the noise, the dust, the disruption of
construction crews wandering through our house, etc. We will all be glad when
it is done.
And after all the stone work is completed,
construction will begin on the new lobby and bathrooms. The lobby will be an
additional entrance onto Guadalupe Street that will open onto the new
bathrooms.
Meanwhile, a crew from Illinois is working on
cleaning, repairing, re-patching and sealing the exterior walls on the other
three sides of the church and rectory. That is a tough job, and it has taken
them many tries with different products to find what will work best on our
stubborn stains. But they are persistent and are getting results. One
parishioner told me that she was pleasantly surprised with the results of one
test section and that it reminded her of Jerusalem! Needless to say, that made
my day. If we can go from being a gray, grungy and particularly unattractive
exterior to reminding people of Jerusalem, we will really have accomplished
something worthwhile in this project.
So as we go through the noise, dust and
disruptions, know that it is all for a good cause. Thanks to all the donors of
this project, thanks to the architects and engineers and Property Committee and
those who figured this project out, thanks to the workers and contractors and
laborers who are making it happen, thanks to all of you for your patience and
support. We will soon have not only a beautiful church community but a
beautiful church exterior to match.
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