Dedication Pictures

It is official, our church is now a  sacred space, no longer a construction site.  The dedication was profoundly beautiful! Click here to see Dedication Pictures

DEDICATION WEEKEND!

It's here....the weekend we have all been waiting for (and working so hard for)...

DEDICATION WEEKEND

We look forward to seeing you at the Dedication proper on Saturday at 4pm and at our 

Sunday Dedication Celebration Masses!

How lovely is your dwelling, Lord, mighty God!

Pew Construction

The pews have arrived on two large tractor trailers, have been unloaded and are now being assembled and readied for permanent placement in the new church.  There are 108 pews total which means a tremendous amount of nuts and bolts assembly!  Our pews are solid red wood stained a beautiful pecan color.  The pew ends are rounded and routed to echo all of the arches in the church.

Lighting

Our lights, custom designed by Crenshaw and incorporating our quatrefoil motif, are down the center aisle.

Marble Sanctuary Floor

The marble floor in the sanctuary being installed is pictured below.

Stained Glass Installation

Beyer Studio in Philadelphia renovated our stained glass windows.  Pictured here is the installation of the first stained glass window from Most Blessed Sacrament depicting the Holy Family.  Below is another shot of stained glass installation in progress.

Lovely Spring Day!

Marble floor work

The sanctuary floor is marble and these are some recent pictures of installation:

Stone & Scaffolding

This is on the school gym side of the church.

Blue as the Sky!

Still awaiting exterior application, the steeple seems to rise from a building that has melted into the sky.....

Exterior Application

The new church is getting ready for the final exterior!  The church is not going to be blue!  The material that is applied looks like stucco and is called EIFS (eefuss).  It is a light gray color with a rough texture.

More Terrazzo!

Terrazzo Update!

Terrazzo flooring as it looks today!

Terrazzo Flooring

Preparation is underway for the terrazzo floor to be poured in the transepts, nave, and narthex of the new church.

The pattern is laid out with aluminum strips that will separate the colors and keep the integrity of the design in the floor.  These are some of the aluminum strips forming the pattern of the floor.

Roman Mosaic  is the company that is performing the work for our terrazzo floor.

Predella Poured Today

The predella is the platform on which the altar is placed.  It will be covered in marble.  There are two steps up to the predella.  In the background of the picture you can see men who are working on preparations for the terrazzo flooring in the transepts and the nave.

In the fog....

The morning fog provided an opportunity to capture our new church in the following light:

This picture is particularly beautiful with St. Joseph and the holy family so clearly in the forefront appearing to watch over our building project:

The Bell Has Arrived!

McShane Bell Foundry, the company that has been restoring our bell, drove the bell up from Maryland today to begin the process of putting the bell in the steeple where it will finally reside after its' long journey through restoration these last seven months.

 BEFORE RESTORATION

AFTER RESTORATION

CLOSE UP OF INSCRIPTION

 The bell was first wrapped in saran wrap to protect it during the ascent to the bell tower.

The bell weighs 953 pounds and a counterweight was necessary to lift the bell up to the steeple.

The bell is now staged awaiting the steel beams that will hold it in place.

Stained Glass

Many of you may be wondering about all of the clear glass windows you see around the new church.  For every large clear glass window that looks like this....

You will eventually see stained glass that looks like this....

You can see the framing for the stained glass windows in place already in the clear glass.  This clear glass window is called a Sussman window and it is designed to hold the place for and accept stained glass when we are ready.  The window opening was determined by the size of the stained glass window so that once the stained glass is installed, there will no longer be any clear glass in that window opening. We have 16 stained glass windows for the nave (main body) of the church. We will have additional stained glass windows in the Daily Mass Chapel and in the rear of the church behind the sanctuary.

 All windows are being renovated at Joe Beyer Studio Please click here to go to a live feed where you can watch the restoration of our windows underway at the studio.  If you would like to see some of Joe Beyer's work here onsite, please visit our Perpetual Adoration Chapel.  Joe renovated and installed the windows in the chapel.

One note, while we have all of the windows in our possession, we are not able to renovate and install all windows by the church dedication.  Rather, some of the windows will be a work in progress as we will need additional funding in order to complete the renovation and installation of them.

Daily Mass Chapel

This is a shot of the Daily Mass Chapel.  All paint in the church is from Sherwin Williams.  The color on the walls of the chapel is Ancient Marble and the ceiling is Nonchalant White.  These colors are in the green family designed to complement the selected carpet, chairs, and other furnishings.  The chapel will have a peaceful, simple, elegant design to it.  There will not be any marble in the furnishings, rather wood elements with touches of iron.  Our statues of the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph which currently reside in the present church, will find their new home in the Daily Mass Chapel.  The reconciliation rooms are located off the chapel on either side in the back and one is pictured below.

Reconciliation Room

Restrooms

This is a recent shot of the men's bathroom.  When you walk into the narthex, there is a hall to the left and a hall to the right down which is located the primary bathrooms.  As you can see, we will be equipped with plenty of restroom space!

Stonework

The stonework, once underway last week moved very quickly and efficiently.  Soon, the gray toned EIFS (stucco) will be added to the church covering up the baby blue that we have all become so accustomed to!

St. Joseph by Moonlight

Heating & Cooling Units Arrive!

It was an exciting day on the project last Friday when the crane arrived to lift the HVAC units up and place them into position on the upper level behind the mezzanine.

CUPOLA

Getting ready to load a cupola window frame on the scissor lift

Installing the windows

All the windows are in!

Window Frames

These are the stained glass window frames stacked in the new church waiting for installation.

Roofing the Steeple

A little fishy?

On a recent tour of the new church, I spotted a bit of humor.  Good to see the guys do have a bit of fun on the job even on such cold days!  Up close the whale even has an eye and lips!

Inside Action

Activity on the interior of the new church yesterday:

 Scissor lift in front of choir loft

 Right transept work

Stained glass window openings