LIGHTING THE WAY

There is a lot more natural light in the church now.  The new stained glass window that will be behind the altar is letting in a lot of daylight. The clerestory windows that were cleaned are letting in more sun.  In keeping with our goal of brightening the building, many electrical lighting issues are also being addressed.

The gothic style hanging fixtures in the church have been polished, the interior brackets have been painted, the bulbs have been changed out, and they are now on dimmers to create special lighting for night time services like evening prayer and Holy Saturday.

 

There is a new fixture over the baptismal font and a beautiful new fixture coming for the entry.  The old fluorescent lighting in the sacristy is being replaced and will be brighter and more energy efficient.  The new Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine will be highlighted with light.

New fixtures with timers have been installed on the exterior that fit in with the scale and architecture of the church.

By now you've probably seen the new ceiling tiles and lighting in the parking lot entrance and chapel.  The new look is cleaner and brighter!

The two "dark" stained glass windows (that are covered by the building) will be illuminated to bring out their beauty.  The altar area is being adjusted with new bulbs and the directional lighting will be adjusted.

Probably the most dramatic change is that the St. Francis de Sales window in the loft is now being back lit at night.  On a timer from sunset to 11 p.m., it's  now visible from Main Street to all who pass by!

 

The past several days have been marked with tremendous progress.  The stunning new tile floor was completed, the stations of the cross were hung, the new baptismal font was installed, all of the old carpeting was removed, and our beautiful new organ was delivered!  Thank you for your patience during this period of construction.  In just a few short weeks we hope to be finished with the main projects that will enable our parish to light the way to the future!

DETAILS, DETAILS!

Throughout the planning process of the renovation, we have consistently made an effort to develop beautiful designs while honoring the history of  St. Francis de Sales church.  Two curious items were what looked like the letter "B" above the Mary and Joseph statues on the side altars.  You can see here in this photo that they are some kind of grate with a wire dangling down.  They were really grimy!  Should they stay?  What did they mean?

It was our pastor, Bishop Schuerman, who taught us that those mysterious letters are actually a stylized version of a Marian symbol.   If you look carefully you can trace out the letters M-A-R-I-A.  At some time a clever craftsman created those to cover an air duct while honoring the Blessed Mother!  Here are some other examples of Marian Symbols:

The symbols above our side altars will still be there only they've been cleaned up, painted, and highlighted.   Here is the "after" photo of one of the symbols in our church. You can see now that there was a cross behind the letters that was barely visible in the past!  Just one of the beautiful "new" details in our historical building! 

We're on track to be ready for Holy Week to be celebrated in the main church.  Keep praying that there won't be any last minute obstacles to prevent the re-opening of the church on Holy Thursday!  Things are coming together quickly!  Stay tuned to our blog for frequent updates over the next few weeks.

 

A WELCOME SIGHT

Whether you're walking into a home, a store, a restaurant or a church, your first impression sets the tone for your experience.  Another area of concentration of Project 2017 was to examine the entrances to St. Francis de Sales to see where they could be enhanced.

The Highway 50 entrance (which was added on to during the pastorship of Fr. Dave Braun) is  architecturally very pretty.  We have added some new lighting to bring out the beauty!  The entire area has been freshly painted and new flooring is in the works. The original entrance to the church is actually inside the vestibule, marked with the arch that you see in these vintage photos:

 

The old glass doors that were in the back of the church have been removed and beautiful new wooden doors are being built to go under the arch.  The arch itself is being restored and will be a highlight of that space, welcoming all who enter as it has done for over 100 years!

 

 

The chapel entrance off of the parking lot is also getting a makeover.  As you have seen, the wall has been removed that was the library (the library has moved downstairs to a beautiful new space) to create more room.   This will help traffic flow on the weekends and will create a nicer gathering area for funerals and weddings.  We are also building a "Welcome Center" which will have cabinets and large screen TV.  Some of the cabinets will be glass to display historical St. Francis de Sales items in honor of the 175th year of our parish. It's our hope to have upcoming event information to scroll on the television.  In the future we plan to have some of the Masses live streamed on the TV so that it can be a friendly "cry" area for parents of young children.  It will also have a retractable table area for people to sell tickets, scrip, etc. on behalf of our many ministries.  New lighting, ceiling tiles, and flooring are also in the plan.  Our aim is to clear up the clutter that seemed to accumulate in that area.  An added bonus of removing the wall is that this beautiful original stained glass window (moved when the chapel was built) is now visible to all who enter and exit this way.

 

We are also working on the breezeway area to clean it up.  The floor will be painted with epoxy (as well as the stairs to the basement inside that door) and new lighting is planned.  This area will  become our Donor Wall to recognize all who have given to make Project 2017 a reality.

 

We're very excited that all of these improvements will help to create a welcoming atmosphere for our already friendly parish!   We're right on schedule with less than a month to go!!

STABAT MATER

There has been a lot of research into the details of Project 2017.  Vintage photos were studied, old files were reviewed, and many members of our team took "field trips" to recently restored churches.  The purpose of those visits was to see what worked, what contractors were used, and if there were elements that we should incorporate into our newly remodeled space.  In addition, it has also been a goal to embrace our church's original gothic architecture and to enhance these features wherever we could. 

In deciding how to proceed with our Stations of the Cross, several factors came into play.  We noticed that the original Stations in our church were huge!  They were oil paintings set in a frame and took up a lot of the wall space.  You can see them here in this photo from the turn of the century:

 

Initially we were talking about the possibility finding some antique Stations of the Cross, perhaps from a church that was closing.  But then it came to light that our current Stations of the Cross (along with the Corpus on the altar crucifix and the statues of Mary and Joseph) were hand carved in the Austrian Tyrol.  The Catholic Daughters of America donated the Stations and the altar crucifix in 1959 when they were added to our church.  Recognizing that they are an important part of our church's history, we moved forward to incorporate them. 

 

Conrad Schmitt Studios in New Berlin are working on painting our Stations (which were previously in subtle wood tones) and adding some gilding.  You can see here that it really brings out the beauty of these art pieces!  (Mary, Joseph, and the Corpus from the altar crucifix are getting "colorized" as well!)

 

Additionally, we have contracted with Gunder Church furniture to create a gothic frame for each station.  This was challenging as each station is not EXACTLY the same size!  We wanted to mimic the original stations only on a little smaller scale.  One of the things that was brought to our attention was that people liked to venerate the stations by placing their hand right underneath each one.  This caused a spot on the wall under each station.  We worked with the designer to create a "landing place" on the wood frame to prevent this in the future.  The frame will look something like this:

We're very excited to see that this is all coming together!  Not only will they be beautiful works of art, but they will bridge the past to the future during Lent and beyond.  

 

Why not making the Stations of the Cross part of your Lenten journey?  Stations of the Cross (followed by a simple soup supper) are offered every Friday at 6 p.m. (except for March 17) during Lent throughout our church renovation.  Please join us!