By JULIE KEANE, Globe staff reporter
June 17, 2004

The rectory at St. Boniface in Sioux City has received a face lift over the past few years by volunteers who have been working hard to reconstruct the interior of the building to make it look new again.

Roger Detches, Joe Lillie and Dennis Begnoche, along with many other volunteers, have restored several rooms in the rectory including the two apartments where Father Kevin Richter and Father Richard Sitzmann live and the two offices in the building. They have constructed a reception room where they had to tear apart two rooms and combine them into one room. They also restored a room which is now called the St. Francis Room.

Joe Lillie, who is hired by St. Boniface as the maintenance man, has been working on this project for many years. He said working as a maintenance person, he never works a set schedule because when things need to be fixed or the boilers need turned on he needs to be able to come in and do it.

"I am a retired carpenter," Lillie said. "When I retired, Father Kevin talked me into coming to work for St. Boniface. Working in a church and school, when something has to be done, you have to come over and do it."

Lillie said his faith has grown along with the project. He actually wanted to stop volunteering and working on the project, but it was Father Kevin who again talked him into staying until the project was completed.

"I told Father Kevin that when he was leaving I was leaving, but he talked me into staying a little longer," Lillie said.

The volunteers want to see the rectory back to the shape it was 90 years ago. That is their number one goal, along with cutting and saving on costs wherever they can.

Lillie said he has many volunteers who have helped restore the shape of the rectory. One of the men has been volunteering almost full-time for several years.

Detches has worked every day for the last two years. During the first year, he worked for about eight hours a day, but due to a knee operation this past year he has had to cut his hours back to about five or six hours a day.

With Detches' help, new windows and ceramic tiles have been installed. Detches said he does just about everything from cutting and nailing boards to cleaning floors.

"I love this," Detches said. "I like working with Joe because he is a good mentor and knows a lot. He is a master carpenter and a master plumber and an all around good guy."

Detches said he is not only working in an enjoyable atmosphere, but he is giving something back to the church in his own special way.

"They have always had an application for stewardship and I never put my name down because I felt if I signed up for stewardship and didn't fulfill my commitment, I would be letting someone down," Detches said. "So, I came over here and volunteered my help. I am helping the church by saving on labor and keeping Joe sane. I meet a lot more people now and I talk with a lot more people in the church now."

Begnoche, another volunteer, said he sees restoring the rectory as one of the ways he can help out the church.

"I do just about everything to help out," Begnoche said. "It helps the church out and I've known Joe for a long time and I like helping him out. It is helping the church out and saving it money. I have always had good faith. I have always come up here to St. Boniface."

All three men praised each other and the hard work they are doing to make their goal possible. They said they work hard to help the church, but all receive great satisfaction as a result of their labor.

"I get great satisfaction out of it," Lillie said. "The atmosphere is like a family. A lot of this work wouldn't be done without the community and the volunteer help. It seems like whenever we need help, someone shows up."