Parish begins expansion of 158-year-old church |
 |
 |
|
Written by CARY ASHBY, Special to the Chronicle
|
|
Saturday, 04 April 2009 01:00 |
WAKEMAN—About five years ago, more young families with children started coming to Wakeman St. Mary Church.
Bob Matus, a lifelong member, says many of those family members were relatives of other parishioners who had returned to the church or never left.
As the numbers grew, it became evident the building itself wasn’t able to hold everybody. Mr. Matus, who was born in Wakeman, credits the young people with bringing up the idea of expanding the church building.
 |
| Parishioner Dan Scherry built this model to show how the church will
look after the renovation. (Chronicle photos by Laurie Stevens Bertke) |
The parish began to discern what needed to happen by using a "beginning survey."
"We knew we couldn’t afford to build a new church. We liked the church the way it was," Mr. Matus says.
The first part of the building — now the sacristy — was constructed in 1872. The first addition, built six years later, is used now as the worship space.
To do the upcoming renovation and expansion, Notre Dame Sister Carroll Schemenauer, pastoral leader since July 1, 2006, says the parishioners had to prioritize.
"Our goal was needs. We couldn’t afford wants," she says, adding there were nine ideas at the beginning.
St. Mary needed a bathroom since the only ones are next door in the social hall. The building is about a quarter of a city block away from the church, which Sr. Schemenauer says is "quite a distance" to walk, especially for the elderly parishioners. The church also needed wider aisles, more pew space and "more sacred space [for] our reconciliation room," she says.
"We took many ideas and tried to put them together," Mr. Matus says.
"We’re pushing the walls out 13 feet to make room for 110 more people," Sr. Schemenauer adds.
The building now seats about 150 at one time. There are 10 pews on each side of the aisle. As part of the renovation, the church bought longer pews from St. Philip Neri Catholic Church that closed in Cleveland. The 20 new pews will be 7 1/2 feet longer than the present ones, which are 11 feet long.
By late June, St. Mary was collecting pledges to be spread over three to five years for a $260,000 renovation. By about September, the church had reached its pledge goal.
"It’s our little capital campaign. It’s good. ... It’s going well," Sr. Schemenauer says.
"The response was tremendous," Mr. Matus agrees.
Located 12 miles east of Norwalk, St. Mary was founded in 1849 with 49 Irish parishioners.
"They came as far as the train would take them and got off to work on the [U.S. 20] railroad tracks," Sr. Schemenauer says.
Presently, the parish has about 200 on its rolls, including inactive members. The church averages 170 to 180 people at two services.
"You might have 60 on Saturday afternoon and the rest on Sunday morning," Sr. Schemenauer says.
Mr. Matus, the volunteer contractor for the project, says the biggest challenge is cutting out both sides of the building and installing columns to hold the edges.
"Our architect has confidence we’ll have no problem doing that," says the 71-year-old man, who has been a contractor as "kind of a hobby" for the last decade.
Architect Dan Fredericks, of Milan, was hired in the fall.
While the renovation is going on, the church will meet in the social hall, which can hold about 200 people at one time.
"Bob [Matus] thinks we can be in before Christmas Eve, probably before," Sr. Schemenauer says.
Mr. Matus is even more optimistic than his original prediction, estimating the parishioners could start using their expanded church as early as October. Either way, he says, "there will be quite the celebration."
|
|
Last Updated on Thursday, 04 June 2009 09:09 |
|
|
