In these times, church roof is ‘a miracle’

LAKEVILLE — Following a successful fundraising campaign, work has begun on a new roof for the St. Mary Catholic Church in Lakeville.Marjorie Palmer, a member of the church’s development committee, said the campaign is $4,700 shy of the $500,000 goal, in cash and pledges. The roof job, handled by Valley Restoration of Torrington (which did a renovation of the steeple in 2009), will cost $92,000 and take a couple of weeks, she said.And none too soon, she added. “There were a couple of leaks over the altar.”Palmer said the pledges came from everyone in the parish.“Some people were able to be very generous, but everyone was generous according to their means.”She said the experience was heartening. “You hear so much about religion being in trouble, and maybe it is in some places, but not at St. Mary.”The campaign is still active. “We are determined to stagger over the finish line,” Palmer said. “It’s a miracle. When we were about to start [in October 2011], the stock market crashed. We postponed it to let people adjust, but we weren’t sure we’d be able to do it in these economic times.”Most of the pledges are structured over a period of time, such as three years, Palmer said. After the roof job is finished, she said the committee will see how much cash they have on hand and turn its attention to renovating the parish hall.Already completed are new paving in the driveways, new carpet in the church interior and minor carpentry work.The Rev. Joe Kurnath said in a statement, “As a parish in the 21st century, we understand that the word ‘church’ does not mean a building only, but more importantly the people of God. St. Mary Church knows that the upkeep and strengthening of the physical plant manifests the health of the parish and informs both us and the larger area that we are confidently going about our ministry. Both the present and the future look quite positive for us.”

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