Building Renovation

Church Repair Project ... Update

Here is a very general summary and updating of where we are in the task of repairing and renovating.

• Fall 2001 Began
  • new slate roof
  • repair and sealing of upper level windows
  • new tile roofs on level below top
  • spot pointing of building above lower roof lines.
  Work completed, Summer of 2002.
• Spring 2003 Began repair renovation and painting of entire Interior, including
  • flooring painting, all pews and decorative wood varnished.
  Work completed, Summer of 2003.
• Summer 2003 Began
  • repair of East and West Towers (repair of wooden louvers, and repair, sealing and painting of tower windows)
  • repair and painting frame of Rose Window
  • restore and varnish main entry doors.
  Work completed, Fall of 2003.
• Fall 2003
  • repair, seal, and paint all window frames on West and East Wall
  • point main entry steps.
  Work Completed, Fall of 2003.
• Fall 2003 Repair, seal & paint all windows & porch railings of the Rectory.
  Work Completed, Summer of 2005.
• Fall 2003 Repair, seal & paint the window frames in the rear of the Church that included the Sacristy and Baptistery areas.

The progress of these repairs follow the recommendations of the architect, Mr. John Serke, based on his analysis of what is high priority work that must be done before things became more serious and much more expensive. Mr. Serke was the general contractor who oversaw the installation of the new roof.

A summary of the high priority work on the exterior envelope of the Church that still must be done includes:

• repairing, re-leading, re-glazing the stained glass windows
• spot pointing the building below the lower roof line and spot pointing the towers
• new tile roofs on the Sacristy and Baptistery areas
• new drain pipes on the lower section on the building.

There are many medium and low priority items on the exterior and the interior that will need attention before they become high priority. We've had some success with our early ventures into fund raising but we've had to borrow money for what has been completed. We are planning new initiatives that we hope will pay back our indebtedness and also fund the remaining work. The newly formed "Capital Campaign Committee" will furnish a much more detailed report of the finances I have only touched upon. For now, I am pleased that so much has been accomplished in a short time and I am hopeful that we can continue the good work we have started.

Relief and Gratitude

Today is a day of great relief and great gratitude, both for the same reason: we are back in the church building. Now that we are back in full session, the Penn Newman Center is not able to accommodate our well-attended liturgies. But although our accommodations in the Newman Center may have been cramped, they were intimate. Many people found themselves sitting closer to the altar than they ever were in the Church. I am hoping that this experience of being close and intimate to the altar will continue now that we are back in the Church and we will not persist in our old ways of filling up the back pews first. Let me also express my gratitude to Fr. Chuck, the Director of Penn Newman, and Sue Harte, the campus minister, for their incredible hospitality during these nine months. It has not been easy absorbing the impact of so many people, of setting up and breaking down the worship space on the lower level every week, and of juggling the regular Newman Center schedule to accommodate the parish needs. Thank You.

Date Set for Rededication Mass

We have a date and a Presider for our Rededication Mass: October 19, 2003 at 5:00pm. Bishop Robert Maginnis will preside and perform the Episcopal functions of Rededication. Fr. Marinucci will be the homilist. All parishioners are invited to participate in this joyous event, and we are planning to invite our list of "Friends" of St Agatha-St. James and everyone who has responded to our emergency plea for help to repair and re-open the Church. Former priests and pastors will be invited as well.

Church Repair Project: Update

The contractor, Ted Hooven, of Theodore Hooven Sons, tells me that they are actually ahead of schedule and they are approximately 65% done. So we still anticipate that we will be able to open on the Sunday after Labor Day.

Church Repair Project: Update

The two capital projects: #2380 [inspection, repair, renovate/paint the church interior] at $163,580 and #2381 [repair to the East and West Gothic Towers] at $32,280 are underway. Scaffolding has been erected in the church [lots of scaffolding]. If the doors are open and you happen to be walking by, take a peek. The interior repair and renovation will be attended to first and then the work on the towers. We have even selected some of the color schemes that will be used in the painting. The time schedule for the interior work which has been given by the contractor is that it will be completed by August 27. We have tentative plans to return to the main church building on the Sunday after Labor Day.

Church Repair Project: Update

The two capital projects registered with the Archdiocese, #2380 [inspection, repair, renovate/paint the church interior] at $163,580 and #2381 [repair to the East and West Gothic Towers] at $32,280; have been approved and awarded to the contractor Theodore Hooven Sons, Inc. A Certificate of Insurance in the proper form and amount has been obtained from the contractor and what remains is the final preparation of the contracts by the Legal Department. Work is expected to begin June 9, 2003.

Church Repair Project: Update

Last Tuesday, I submitted my proposal for the repair, renovation and reopening of St. Agatha-St. James church building to the Administrative Office of the Vicar General who receives all requests for capital projects and who must ultimately approve such requests. The broad outlines of the proposal are:

• that we erect scaffolding in the interior of the Church to reach all suspect ornamental plaster;
• all plaster and cornices, etc., be inspected by a structural engineer;
• all repairs and renovations be made;
• the interior of the Church be painted in order to take financial advantage of the existing scaffolding rather than pay to have it reassembled at some future date. Painting will be necessary when the repairs and renovations are complete.

I am asking to borrow the money for this capital project from the Archdiocese. Knowing that we cannot hope to repay such a loan through our diminished parishioner base, I am offering as "collateral" my commitment to engage in creative fund raising initiatives over the next several years that will hopefully be able to repay any money borrowed. Such a venture is "risky," but there have already been many offers of financial support from various sources and offers to help with the task of fund raising. This is very encouraging since we haven't even begun the process of actual solicitation. Furthermore, we all know that this Church, its interior and exterior, is an architectural and historical "jewel" certainly worth preserving and renovating. It is "holy ground" for many young Catholic adults who attend area universities. What happens in St. Agatha-St. James Church is "holy grounding" for them now and for the Catholic leaders they will be in their professions and in their future parishes. As our parish motto says, "Caritas Christi, Urget Nos" [The love of Christ impels us].

Stewardship of Treasure

We are in the process of organizing a Fund Raising Committee and planning our fund raising initiatives. So, it is certainly inspiring and sustaining to receive, completely unsolicited, gifts from people who have heard of our plight and have taken their own initiative to help us. We have received $1000.00 from Kenneth, a parent of a sophomore daughter at Penn; $100.00 from Adam, a parent of a senior daughter at Penn, with the possibility of a matching gift; $100.00 from Lucy, who attends daily mass at the Penn Newman center; $50.00 from Stephen; $350.00 in the Sunday collection from an anonymous donor; $10,000.00 from Kathy and George, who are parishioners; and $75.00 from an anonymous student in remembrance of her grandparents. We are grateful and indebted to these people whose generosity has convinced me that our efforts to repair, renovate and reopen our church building will bear fruit.

Stewardship of Treasure

As you know, St. Agatha-St. James will soon be seriously involved in creative fund raising to support the necessary repair and renovation work that must be done to re-open the Church. Unfortunately, your Pastor is a complete novice in the fine arts of fund raising. Fortunately, I am very interested in learning and committed to the task. There is one thing I know already -- that fund raising is labor intensive. It involves among other things: learning, planning, applying, responding, folding, licking [i.e., envelopes], mailing, inter-netting, grant writing, and other exotic activities. I need a committee of dedicated people. If I can't get dedicated people, I'll settle for people who will do whatever they can.

For instance, Partners for Sacred Places, a national non-profit and non-sectarian organization for the good care and active use of religious properties, has received a grant from the William Penn Foundation to provide training and small technical assistance grants to help congregations with older buildings in West Philadelphia. The new training program will be offered free of charge to select congregations that need to raise sufficient funds to repair and renovate their historic buildings within the next several years. They will offer this training in fund raising strategies and grant writing and matching grants to parishes which are willing to commit a clergyperson and a team of people. This program seems very appropriate and timely for us. Partners for Sacred Places is hosting a special orientation and reception from 7:30-9:00pm on Tuesday, February 4th at Calvary Methodist at 48th Street and Baltimore Avenue. I would like to attend with a group from St. Agatha-St. James. If you are interested, call the Rectory and let us know.

Church Repair -- Fr. Marinucci's Update

On Monday, December 16, I participated in a meeting at the Diocesan Office Center for the purpose of coming up with a plan to respond to the situation in our Church building. Present at the meeting were: Msgr. John Conway, the Regional Vicar; Mr. Chuck Debevec, Diocesan Insurance Representative; Mr. Art Friedman, Director of Capital Projects for the Archdiocese; Mr. Ted Hooven, the Contractor who is bidding on the job of repairing the Church; and Mr. Bill DiCarlo, a structural engineer who will bid on the task of inspecting the Church to determine the extent of damage and the safety of the interior environment. Mostly it was a productive meeting. Some things were clearly determined, such as the steps to take in submitting a proposal to re-open the Church. Other things were not so clear, such as how this project could be financed.

The next step for me is to gather the recommendations and bid proposals of all the parties involved and, as Pastor of St. Agatha-St. James, submit a proposal with several options on how to best proceed with reopening the Church. First of all, we will need to scaffold the entire interior of the Church so that an inspection of all ornamental plaster by a structural engineer can take place. Secondly, while the scaffolding is still in place, all repairs to plaster should be made. If we do not make the necessary repairs immediately after the inspection, we will need to pay for the scaffolding to be erected again when repairs are made. Thirdly, while the scaffolding is still in place, it would make good financial sense to proceed with painting the Church at the same time. This is the plan I will submit and recommend: that all steps are done together. We did plan to repair and paint the Church after the new roof but now, instead of proceeding with this incrementally over several years as we acquired the funds, we are forced to do the entire project now. In addition, I intend to submit a recommendation that certain necessary repairs on the two towers also be done.

Since this proposal will include a proposal to borrow the necessary funds from the Diocese, we must also include options that scale down the scope of the work in case the initial request is deemed to be too expensive. The Diocese must consider whether they want to make such a loan knowing that St. Agatha-St. James, with its severely limited parishioner base, may not be able to repay the money in the traditional manner that other parishes pay such loans, by increased offertory programs and pledges among a much larger parishioner base. Repaying a loan by depending upon fund raising from outside donor support has no guarantees and is therefore very risky. As Henry David Thoreau said: "If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them." Repairing, painting and reopening our Catholic Church in University City seem like a dream, like building a castle in the air. We need the foundations under the dream, a fund raising effort and response that will make it happen.

...All I want for Christmas....

The other day someone said to me: "I guess what you want for Christmas, Father, is your Church back." I wondered whether this was a good opportunity to point out to this person that it is the Church building that is closed, not the Church. The Church of St. Agatha-St. James that convened in the Penn Newman Center for weekend Masses was alive and well, vibrant and flexible, and certainly up to the challenge of celebrating in a difficult and confined environment. For this I am grateful. Everyone was most supportive and the university students in particular were wonderful in their willingness to set up and break down the 300 chairs on the lower level of the Penn Newman Center where we created a worship space. The student musicians and all other ministers took the obstacles of a new worship space in stride and contributed their gifts with their usual generosity.

I certainly want the Church building back, but I want it safe -- repaired and renovated. Since I arrived as Pastor, we have been moving toward a comprehensive plan of repair and renovation of the external structure and the internal worship space. Recent events are requiring certain things to be done sooner rather than later. Of course, the concern of funding such immediate repairs is a big concern. But from what I have seen so far, I have many reasons to be hopeful and enthusiastic.

Until further notice, all weekend Masses will be celebrated in the Penn Newman Center.

Several days ago, a large piece of plaster fell in the the church building and severely damaged one of the pews. By the grace of God, this did not occur during Mass, and no one was injured. However, we have been advised by engineers that the plaster damage is widespread and continues to pose a serious safety hazard. In order to ensure the safety of all in our worship community, we are closing down the building until the problem can be resolved. Weekend Liturgies will be celebrated in alternate locations in the parish.

All weekend Masses for December 7 and 8 will be held in the Penn Newman Center.

We are grateful for your patience and understanding as we are forced to relocate our weekend Liturgies temporarily. At this point in time we are unable to anticipate how long this inconvenience will be. We also don't know what other adjustments will have to be made in order to adequately provide weekend Masses for students and parishioners. What we can anticipate is the wonderful cooperation of everyone who worships at St. Agatha - St. James. The willing spirit of our faith community is truly a blessing.

We will keep you updated about the situation with the church building and about the locations of upcoming Masses. Please pray for a favorable resolution to this problem.