We've Begun!

We've got green lights from the diocese and all the submittals needed to begin the first phase of construction. Scott Phillips et al are working today tying rebar, with excavation to follow next week.

So mark it down, May 30th, 2014, the first day of construction work on St. Kateri Church.

!!!  *clink*  !!!

Field Trip to Earthworks Quarry

Earthworks of Perryville, Missouri is providing the stone for the exterior of the church. We're delighted to have such a relatively local source for the stone, and grateful to Earthworks for being great to work with and for helping us make the finances work. We needed to pick up a sample pallet, and took the opportunity to tour one of Earthworks' quarries.

Computer-controlled (CNC) wet saws cut dimensional stone

5-9-14 Friday Update: Statements, Shops, a Sign, and some Puddles

Hello all, still watching things slowly falling into place. As of the conference call yesterday Poettker still needed shop drawings for some early work. I'm still working on Diocesan approval. And now we're getting into some weather. So I guess those three factors can race to see what ends up holding us up.

Diocesan approval is a critical step, and I'm happy about the quality of communication so far. It was frustrating that it took so long to get the documents we needed to pass on to them... but once we did, they've been responding within hours most of the time. This week I've been working hard with Jim Mroczkowski, the diocese's CFO, to get adequate financial statements and documentation on file. Yet another educational experience!

I also finally have a quarterly cash flow projection from Poettker. In combination with the documentation I've worked up for the Diocese, I think I'm in good shape to sit down with a loan executive. I'd like to make that happen early next week. We'll need to borrow short-term to bridge between the one-year construction schedule and the four years left of the pledge campaign. We'll need some slightly longer-term debt to make up the difference. If our fundraising continues to go as well as I think it will, the church will be paid for quite quickly.

Of course, if the parish still has the appetite and resources, there will always be additions possible, but after such a huge outpouring for this project, I won't be pushing anything too hard. It's okay to leave something for the next generation!

I'm meeting a second stained glass company in St. Francisville on Tuesday. With two proposals in hand we'll look to get that glass removed quickly so the parish there can move ahead with there own plans.

Swing by and see the construction sign!

Windows and Stations from St. Francis Xavier Parish

Here's the latest GREAT news about the glass and stations from St. Francisville described here.

The transfer is approved and official. If you haven't followed the Flickr link to photos, check it out. They really are fantastic. It's impossible to exaggerate the impact this glass will have on our church.

The plan, you may remember, was to install clear glass windows initially. Over time, as funds became available, the parish could commission stained glass to insert. Even in our wildest fundraising dreams, though, we wouldn't have been able to achieve glass of this quality. I don't know exactly what fabrication of similar windows would cost today, but I'm quite certain it would exceed $50,000 per window.

The windows have been seen and measured by a representative from Art Glass Unlimited of St. Louis. They are qualified to do the delicate work of removing, restoring, and reinstalling the windows. He seemed to indicate that the windows were in generally good condition and the restoration required would not be excessive. Still, I'm anxious to see the numbers. I haven't the slightest idea what to expect when it comes to the cost of this work.

We will also seek at least one other proposal for comparison.

St. Francis Xavier Parish (now merged into St. Lawrence Parish) is also providing Stations of the Cross, also pictured at the Flickr link above, and a nice sacristy cabinet. We investigated possible reuse of the pews in the church, but that didn't pan out.

Please pray for the people of the former St. Francis Xavier Parish, now members of St. Lawrence Parish, who have been so generous in the midst of a tough transition.

First Weekly Update, Without Much Update.

Hi everyone, as we transition into the building phase of our project, I thought it would be good to start a habit of weekly blog updates.

This week there isn't much of an update, but at least I can explain what is happening, and not happening, and why.

The effort right now is to obtain diocesan approval for our final plans and for the terms of our contract with Poettker Construction. It's taking longer than I'd like to gather the needed materials. All we lack now is an up-to-date cost breakdown to provide the diocese. The minute the contractor provides that, I will forward the package to Bishop Braxton and his advisors for approval. We should not expect this to happen in a day or two, but I trust that everyone involved will do what they can to move us along quickly. We have everything in place to do our excavation, but we don't want to do that until we're ready to get Poettker working. Otherwise a big hole collecting water is just another problem.

In the meantime, we've started paying more deliberate attention to later elements like pews. The pews and chairs will cost somewhere between $90,000 and $105,000. We have proposals from Gunder, New Holland, Sauder, and Ratigan-Schottler, and are talking with Heritage Design of Peoria.