St. Mary's Sac City expands gathering area, adds meeting rooms

By JAMIE MCCLURE, Globe Intern
June 14, 2004

SAC CITY - St. Mary's Church recently finished its new gathering area and heating and cooling system that will save money on the energy bill. Bishop R. Walker Nickless blessed the new area on June 10 before 10:30 a.m. Mass.

This project started with an energy audit two years ago and the recommendations that came out of the audit helped to decide what would be done to fix the problems with the high-energy bill, and when the work to fix the problem would start. The consultant recommended three things the church should consider for energy savings. The first was to replace the old boiler because it was the original boiler and was very inefficient. The church replaced the boiler with three small energy efficient furnaces.

"There is evidence of a change in the energy bill after putting in the new furnaces, but we will have to go through a complete heating and cooling season before we really know what the change will be," said Father Larry McCarty, pastor at St. Mary's church.

The second thing that the audit addressed was the hallway that connected the church to the parish center. The outside wall of the hallway was solid glass (single pane) and a real conductor of cold in the winter and heat in the summer. The parish council started looking at possibilities, and presented three options to the parish council members - one of which was to enclose the entire area between the church and parish center to create a gathering area as well as two meeting rooms. A majority of parishioners voted for that option.

"The enthusiasm for the project was evident in the generous response to the fund drive," said Father McCarty. "We started this project around late October and the construction was substantially completed around Easter of 2007."

At the beginning of the project, the estimated cost was around $170,207. At the end of the project after construction had already begun, the cost came to about $189,902 because the roof over the gathering area needed replacing. This last minute project was not expected in the layout plans, but it was a must to be done.

"This setting seemed very natural, and it will be a wonderful environment for people gathering for funerals, weddings, Mass, and the many meetings that go on," said Father McCarty. "It also brings together the parish center and the church itself."

All of the workers who helped in the remodeling process were all parishioners of St. Mary's. The architect for the project was Brad Mollet of Mollet Architecture out of Jefferson, S.D. The general contractor was Randy Warnke, who is president of Warnke Construction of Carroll. The mechanical work was done by MGM in Sac City. The company is owned and operated by Roger and Randy Mugggenber and Jim Geery. Monte Damm did the electrical work and he is the owner of Damm Electric in Sac City. Kenneth Janning & Sons, Inc. did the terrazzo flooring from Carroll. Steve and Rose Richards of Sac City did the demolition work prior to construction. Don and Annette Wellington and Dan and Kay Martin were the co-chairs of the fund drive.

Parish council members did the planning and carrying out of the project and their names include: Dr. Bill Brenny; Nancy DeVries; Steve Lohff; Charlie Loxterkamp; Roger Mueggenberg; Joyce O'Tool; Rita Samuelson and Terry Striegel.

St. Mary's shared the day of the blessing of their new gathering area with the Feast of Corpus Christi.

"The celebration of the Feast of Corpus Christi originated in France in 1246," said Bishop Nickless, at the beginning of the homily. "Every parish is full of people who make up the body of Christ, and we are all here to celebrate him and his gift of the Eucharist."

Bishop Nickless wrapped up the homily with, "We are involved in something great, mysterious and awesome and we are here each Sunday to meet our God and thank him for his gifts."