Southern Indiana church faces drastic restoration

JASPER, Ind. -- In March, metal webs of scaffolding rose nearly 90 feet to the top of the dome of the Monastery Immaculate Conception church.\nThe interior renovation of the 80-year-old-plus church was under way. Delicate painting brought out details never before seen. Painstakingly, artists accented columns with gold leaf. Now the scaffolding is gone and the $7 million interior and exterior renovation is finished.\nFor the community of religious women, the restoration was more than Italian marble and heating and cooling systems.\n"I think the thing that strikes me is that the church is the center of our lives and our prayer together. It also just doesn't belong to us, it really belongs to this area," said Sister Kristine Anne Harpenau, prioress. "We've been entrusted with this treasure and we want it to be well cared for, for generations to come."\nPlanning for the restoration began in 1998.\nHarpenau said that from the beginning, the restoration wasn't seen as something just for the sisters, but something for the area. It was a preservation of history and a symbol of a religious community's way of life.\n"As you come into town, you see the church, the dome. It really is a visible symbol of faith in God, not just our faith in God, but I think it's very much a part of the area, kind of a beacon-of-life reminder of what's important," Harpenau said.\nOnce the community made the decision to restore the church, the focus turned to how to pay for it. Sister Rose Mary Rexing, director of mission advancement, took the helm of the Center of Our Lives capital campaign. It was going to be no small feat to raise $7 million.\n"I say this campaign has been like a roller-coaster ride. We've had ups and downs, but I do feel God's been in the seat next to me and the whole community has been riding with me through the ups and downs," Rexing said.\nOn Sept. 10, 2001, a blessing was said over the workers on the exterior restoration. The next day, the world watched as the United States was attacked by terrorists and the World Trade Center towers came crashing down. Instantly, the nation's economy took a swift downturn.\n"Even people who committed to gifts had to retract them because with their businesses, they couldn't do it anymore," Rexing said. "We weren't left with a lot of original pledges, (and a lot of) hopes and work were down the tubes.\n"I had my days of doubting, then I had to say, 'Come on, where's your faith, Rose Mary?' and I kept saying, 'If God wants us to do it, then it will happen.'"\nIn January 2003, a donor agreed to match money raised up to $1 million. "That really got the campaign moving again," Rexing said.\nShe is just grateful for the 5,300 donors who donated amounts ranging from $1 to $1 million.\n"People who supported us, it wasn't just supporting the building but it was supporting who we are and what we're about."\nThe design of the restoration was of utmost importance. It needed to complement the architecture and come with modern-day improvements such as better lighting, a better sound system and, for the first time, air conditioning.\nDavid M. Allen, architect and partner for CoxAllen and Associates, Louisville, said the first step was to decide what makes the space holy or sacred.\nThe design was based on the dome shape that dominates the architecture. The altar and ambo, or pulpit, were moved to be more centrally located under the dome. The seating for the sisters was made more in the round, which will enhance their daily prayer. The change also helped make the church more liturgically modern. A eucharistic chapel, also dome-shaped, was added. It will provide the sisters a semiprivate area to pray in the church even when tour groups are visiting.\nA lot of thought also went into the paint scheme. When the painters first saw the church, they were thinking about a wide range of rich colors.\n"We had to keep in mind this is a monastic church," Allen said. The paint was more subtle, but brought out many of the details in the church. "(Sisters) would say (to me), 'I've been here my whole life but I've never noticed that,'" he said.\nAnnually, more than 10,000 visitors take tours of the monastery. The main attraction is always seeing the church.\nSister Christine Kempf, director of tourism, applied for and received a $3,000 grant from the Dubois County Tourism Commission. The money went into making a PowerPoint slide presentation and new brochures that had to be changed because of the restoration.\nIn place of a full tour of the church, the slide presentation was used from February 2004 until recently, allowing for one-on-one interaction. Kempf also added to the tour other spaces that weren't normally included, like the infirmary and a typical bedroom of a sister.\n"I can't wait personally to get back in there but also to share it with other people," she said.\nKempf, who has given tours for years, named the door entering the church her "ah" door.\n"Whether I take one person in or if I take 100 people in ... all I hear behind me is 'ah,'" she said. Since the restoration is complete, she expects even bigger "ahs."\nThe concrete walk leading into the church is worn from years of sisters walking into the church for prayer and worship. The sisters made sure the worn concrete wasn't "fixed."\n"We are connecting with those who have gone before us who have been praying in this church since 1924," Sister Briana Elisabeth, 33, a student at the University of Louisville, said of the church.\nThe community was eager to resume praying in the church. Elisabeth and Sister Theresita Schenk, 85, the monastery's main organist, said they both looked forward to hearing the bells that always rang before prayer time. The bells weren't used much during the restoration.\n"It calls us to prayer but it also gives us five minutes to quiet down, remember where you are and it marks our sacred time together," Elisabeth said. Now, the bells are ringing, and Schenk again was able to fill the church with the sound of the pipe organ during the dedication.\n"It was wonderful getting to play the organ and realizing how much we missed it," she said.