Algona's St. Cecelia finishes restoration project Celebrates first Mass at Christmas Vigil

By Kenny Keane, Globe staff reporter
Posted January 9, 2003

ALGONA - The Lord truly works in mysterious ways. For St. Cecelia Church in Algona, it wasn't necessarily a case of divine intervention, but almost three years ago when the boiler went out, it led to a renovation and restoration project that was just completed in time for this Christmas.

"We started the whole process in February of 2000 when our boiler went out," said Deacon Robert Larsen of St. Cecelia. "In the process of putting in the new boiler, we brought together a group of people to help make the decision on what type of boiler we wanted, and then we expanded the committee to about 10 of our parishioners from various committees in the church. This renovation project probably started about two years ago in September when we finally said let's sit down and see what we want to do."

In the summer of 2000, Deacon Larsen said they tuck-pointed the church. They had a company come in and replace many of the slate tiles and do some work on the downspouts.

"The year previous to that is the year that we really fixed the outside of the church," he said. "That was also a deciding factor in saying - we have the outside in pretty good shape right now, let's take a look at the inside.

"We use the term renovation, and someone said to me the other day that when you renovate that means you tear out. I would say maybe we're more of restoration without playing word games."

He said there were only two major renovations that took place with the addition of two handicap accessible restrooms, which they did not have before, and putting in a completely new ceiling. As for the rest, he said they did pretty much everything imaginable.

"We painted the entire inside of the church. We put in new windows, new carpet, a new sound system, new lighting and a new organ," Deacon Larsen said. "We redid our oak pews, which were sanded down and re-varnished. We also re-padded and re-covered our kneelers.

"We have a terrazzo floor in the church. So we had a terrazzo company come in, strip it down, level it and fill a few holes, and they really restored it to making it look brand new. It really looks nice."

The bell system was also fixed, according to Deacon Larsen, who also mentioned that the new sound system includes hearing-impaired packs.

"It works the exact opposite of a lavaliere mic. Where the lavaliere puts out sound, the hearing pack brings sound in," he said. "When our parishioners come in they can check one out for Mass. It has an earpiece that they stick in their ear, and then it has a pack that they can either put in their pocket or hold."

He said the device also features volume controls to accommodate individual hearing needs.

Another aid for the handicapped was the addition of seating accessibility for wheelchairs with the capacity for six to eight chairs.

Aside from painting a couple times in the 50-some years that the church has been here, Deacon Larsen said it was his understanding that nothing else had been done. So when they started the process and talked to various parishioners, the idea for the restoration project was very well received.

"When you have a sound system that's 20, 25 or 30 years old and lighting, which was very, very poor in the church - all of those things were important to them," he said. "So we had a very positive response to going ahead with restoring the church."

Although they don't have a final figure yet, Deacon Larsen said it should be in the area of about $550,000.

Father Paul Eisele, pastor of St. Cecelia, pointed out that for the amount of work that was done that is a remarkable figure.

"Some of the priests who stopped in and looked at the project in the middle of it said, 'I can't believe that you did all of that for that amount.' Most of the priests who looked at the project thought it was going to be $1 million," Father Eisele said.

The funds for the project came from various sources, according to Deacon Larsen.

"We had people who had left donations to the church specifically for the time in which we would restore or renovate," he said. "We simply sent out a mailing to our parishioners asking them to make donations, which they have. Over the years, especially in the last few years, they had a building fund here that monies were put into as the years went by."

As for those who worked on this project, including local contractors, the deacon said they went above and beyond the call of duty.

"To be very honest, it was probably a five to six-month job, and they really got after it," he said. "When you figure we painted the entire interior of the church, redid the pews and the wood, put all new lights in, all new sound, bell, organ and we started Sept. 5 - in essence, except for a couple of little jobs and one of those things where we had a back order on something, everything else is done. I would like to compliment all of those people for the effort that they put in to get us back in by Christmas time."

The parish held an open house the weekend of Dec. 21-22. The first Mass held in the newly remodeled church was the Christmas Vigil, with the blessing of the Christmas crib, which was held on Christmas Eve. Christmas music was provided by the adult choir later that evening, followed by the Christmas Eve Mass.

Deacon Larsen was involved with this project from the outset along with his wife Lorri, the pastoral associate at the parish, and Father Steve Broderson, who was the pastor of St. Cecelia when the project started.

St. Cecelia's current pastor, Father Eisele, arrived at the parish July 16 after all the contracts were signed, but he has been able to enjoy all of the renovation.

"I just think it should have the parish family feel very proud of their church and their members as well that they were able to do that project in that amount of time," he said. "It's really been an inspiration to me coming in in the middle of the project and being able to see everyone work together to get the project completed on time."

The primary goal behind renovating the church, Deacon Larsen explained, was for the future of the church and the future generations that will use that space to worship.

"I think the one thing that we always have to remember is that this generation is charged with making sure that we pass our faith on to the next generation," he said. "When we went into the renovating of the church, we did it with the idea that hopefully what we're doing will be able to maintain our ability to practice our faith within that space for many years to come just like the people who built the church some 50 years ago built it with an idea that it was going to be there for us today.

"My wife Lorri made the comment that the church is simplistically elegant. I really think that kind of sums up our church. It's extremely elegant, but it's elegant in a very simplistic way."