Texarkana church thankful after redo

TEXARKANA — 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. The church’s pastor, the Rev. 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.”

A formal opening will be held in January.

The renovations began in April, and parishioners helped set up a temporary sanctuary downstairs in the parish hall. Several religious items were brought down for worship, and others, along with the pews, were placed in storage as work began.

Carpet was removed, the floor was stabilized and asbestos was also removed. The entire 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.

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.

The church — at 407 Beech St. on the Arkansas side of Texarkana — 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.