My dear friends,

As we approach the end of July, I want to give you an update on the work being done inside our church. It is both very daunting and very exciting when you think of how beautiful our church will look when we return there for worship in the fall: a temple beautifully restored for another century of drawing God’s people ever closer to Him.

The first thing that was done on June 9th was the removal of the old pews. Most of them, as you probably saw over Father’s Day weekend, were in extremely bad shape held together by the ingenuity of our maintenance staff. During that first week of work, the entire floor of the church was covered to protect it and make room for the scaffolding needed to paint the inside walls of the church and the sanctuary as well as the dome. All permanent fixtures were protected in custom-built plywood enclosures, including the Altar, Baptismal Font, Altar Rail, Ambo, marble floors, marble baseboards, and stairs. It was truly an impressive feat to ensure that these sacred fixtures would not be harmed this summer.

Five different scaffolds are now in place inside the church to begin painting. The main scaffold in the nave houses a platform high above the floor which parallels the base of the dome. The second scaffold surrounds our sanctuary where the detailed work on the reredos will be conducted by specially-trained liturgical artists. The third scaffold is a rolling one on top of the platform which reached the top of the dome. The fourth is a smaller rolling scaffold to reach the top of the reredos. The fifth is scaffolding in our choir loft to paint up there.

Interior ceilings are being insulated, and the tectum board is being enclosed to improve acoustics in the nave to make hearing the Word of God proclaimed a bit clearer inside the church.

The new mechanical yard at the rear of the church is being constructed and the refrigerant lines are being run underneath the sidewalk towards the front of the church for a new AC unit on our balcony. The sidewalk between Comber Hall and the church should be restored and reopened by late August.

A new interior color scheme has been finalized, and the interior walls of the church will begin to be painted this week. A specialty painter is now on-site and is beginning to paint the interior of the dome in metallic gold. Upon completion of the dome, they will begin working on the cleaning and restoration of the reredos and all side altars. We are also doing a multitude of extra work while the painting is going on such as electrical upgrades, dome lighting, and the restoration of the fourth confessional.

There is so much more that is happening that I couldn’t fit into this space, but I did not want to get too technical. Just know that it is all being done for the greater glory of God so that our children and grandchildren can continue to enjoy the fruits of this magnificent church for generations to come.

God bless you all,