Our parish church ceiling
Our parish church ceiling has caused our parish family some trouble. As many of you know, a piece of plaster fell on Sunday, October 30. Unfortunately, it struck an 8-year-old boy in the arm. He required some stitches, and of course, it frightened him and all of us. Thankfully, he received the medical attention that was necessary and he was in school the next day, and at Mass the following Sunday! Fortunately, the plaster hit his arm and not elsewhere.
Because we cannot say, for certain, that any other crack in the ceiling plaster is harmless, we shut the church building and moved Masses, etc. to the parish hall. Until we can determine the status of the ceiling and a plan for repair, we must be careful. As of now, we think that the plaster that fell is an exception. Nonetheless, we must investigate the other cracks. We may need to construct a scaffolding system throughout the church in order to reach the ceiling. Such an effort will be expensive, but is necessary in order to do the repairs and painting.
While we are worshipping in the parish hall, we will do our best to create a prayerful atmosphere. I think that we have arranged the chairs and sanctuary furniture, as well as decorated in a way, that helps us to pray. On the weekend of November 5-6, we celebrated the Feast of St. Willebrord, our parish patron saint. Our custodian, Miguel, and Deacon Luis moved the statue of St. Willebrord to the hall. Olga and others decorated around him and we had some young boys dress like the Archbishop Willebrord at several Masses. We had a very dignified remembrance of our patron, and we had plenty of reasons to seek his intercessory help! Willebrord’s statue will remain with us in the parish hall.
Already we have celebrated weekday and Sunday Masses, the Feast of All Saints, the Memorial of All Souls, a Memorial Mass for deceased parishioners, a couple of funerals, a few baptisms, and a Mass of Thanksgiving for 15-year-old twins (a quince años). All of these celebrations were done with reverence and dignity. The families and others involved in these important moments of worship were all satisfied and understood the challenge we are facing with our church. We expect to continue to do our best within the limitations we have. We know that Thanksgiving, Advent, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Las Posadas, the Giving Tree, and Christmas will present additional challenges.
Let us pray for cooperation and patience in all that we do. Pray that we can determine a proper, complete, and timely way to repair the ceiling. Pray that we can all find ways to pay for this important repair (and some others, including the church roof!).
Peace, Fr. Andy