‘God is Good’
St. Edward’s latest renovation project is complete; concert tonight at 7 p.m.
After nearly seven months, interior renovations at St. Edward Catholic Church are complete. Parishioners experienced their first mass in the renovated building the weekend before Thanksgiving and the church’s pastor, Father James West, said the timing itself was a blessing.
“The goal was to be able to do this between Easter and Christmas so we didn’t have to have either of those two major celebrations downstairs and we got it done before Thanksgiving,” he said. “God is good.”
The renovations began in April, and parishioners helped set up a temporary sanctuary downstairs in the parish hall following a confirmation mass. Several religious items were brought down there for worship, and others, along with the pews, were placed in storage and work began.
Carpet was removed, the floor was stabilized and asbestos was also removed. The interior was painted in soft taupe tones, replacing the previous shades of sea foam green. Now that it’s a warmer color, West said people have been commenting on how the stained glass windows
really stand out.
“One thing people always mention is that the stained glass windows are so much more prominent now, and the phrase they always use is ‘The windows just pop.’ I’ve never heard that word used in that way as much as I have in the last few months. The windows pop because there is so much green in the windows already that when it’s surrounded by green, the window isn’t as prominent.”
The arched ceiling was repaired, re-plastered and repainted, and stenciling detail was done by Charles Scott.
“He duplicated it, really,” said Mikey Naples, who is in charge of the church’s plant operations and maintenance. “He traced it out and then went home and razor bladed it out and did sections of it.” Naples added that Scott was working right until the inaugural service.
“He also proposed certain things on his own, like the niches out there,” he said. “He did have his own artistic suggestions that he would propose to us.” Those suggestions also included redoing moldings and painting a gold edge around segments of the choir loft.
“Some of this we had in mind, some of it just happened along the way,” West said.
The church was last renovated 30 years ago. In the past few years, they have been working to completely renovate the structure, built in 1923, in anticipation of that century-old birthday. The first phase involved sealing the envelope of the church, which included waterproofing the brick sides and the basement and also replacing the roof. It is now covered with replica tiles of the original 1923 material that are the same color and thickness. Other upgrades include a new heating and air system.
“What you see all around, not everything has been done yet,” West said. “We have until 2023 for the century, 100-year mark for this church, and in the meantime, between now and then, we’re going to do a few things. We are going to do some restoration work on the statues, for instance, and the stations of the cross on the walls, things like that.”
Additional changes include shortening two pews in front of the altar to accommodate wheelchairs and placing chairs in the front row for parishioners who use walkers.
Since work began on the church eight years ago, an estimated $775,000 has been spent on the entire project, which was paid for entirely by St. Edward parishioners.
“The parishioners have been so generous and amazing in making pledges and making good on those pledges,” West said. “We were approved for a major loan for this project from the Catholic Diocese in Little Rock, but we never had to access that. We have not taken a single penny of the loan that was extended to us by the diocese.”
He added that the renovations turned out so much nicer than he anticipated.
“I knew it was going to be beautiful, but not this beautiful,” he said. “I’ve had people who have lived in this parish all their lives, grown men, with tears in their eyes looking around here. One lady who grew up in this parish, who has been around a long time, said the church has never ever been this beautiful. I had someone else tell me he was at the last renovation more than 30 years ago and he said this is even more beautiful than that was after that renovation was just done. That’s a huge compliment. It was already beautiful and now it’s even more so.”
A formal opening will be held in January, but for a peek at the renovations, the public is invited to attend the Texarkana Regional Chorale’s Christmas Choral Splendor concert, which will be held 7 p.m. tonight at the church, 407 Beech St. The event will feature Baroque music with selections by Handel, Corelli and Bach. The orchestra, directed by Mark Andre Bougie, will be joined by the Veritas Academy Ringers, directed by Stephanie House. A reception, complete with a visit from Santa Claus, will immediately follow the concert. Admission is free and donations are accepted.