HOUMA, La. (AP) After a 2010 fire destroyed their church, parishioners of St. Matthew's Episcopal in Houma look forward to returning to their former location in the coming weeks.

The Rev. Craig Dalferes, rector at St. Matthew's, tells The Courier (http://bit.ly/UFnf4r) the new school building and parish hall will be completed by the start of the start of the school year in August.

Dalferes also estimated the church will be completed around December as the building's interior will need additional work.

The fire began in the church and spread to one wing of the school, which burned through the roof, causing the building's collapse.

St. Matthew's, which was listed on the National Registry of Historical Places, was Terrebonne's second oldest church.

___

Information from: The Courier, http://www.houmatoday.com

See the original post:
Construction on St. Matthew's nears completion

Published: Saturday, June 14, 2014 at 6:01 a.m. Last Modified: Saturday, June 14, 2014 at 11:33 p.m.

After a 2010 fire destroyed their church, parishioners of St. Matthews Episcopal in Houma look forward to returning to their former location in the coming weeks.

The Rev. Craig Dalferes, rector at St. Matthews, said the new school building and parish hall will be completed by the start of the start of the school year in August.

Dalferes also estimated the church, on Barrow Street near Main Street, will be completed around December as the buildings interior will need additional work.

Once we receive the permit to occupy the school and parish hall, we will likely begin having our worship service in the parish hall until the church is complete, he said. Although no injuries were reported, the fire, which took hours to extinguish, destroyed the building during the early morning hours of Nov. 11, 2010.

The fire began in the church and spread to one wing of the school, which burned through the roof, causing the buildings collapse.

Demolition of the church building, a Houma landmark, began on Dec. 22, 2010.

Grace Lutheran Church in Houma then offered its church building to the St. Matthews congregation for its Sunday services.

We have enjoyed wonderful hospitality from Grace Lutheran Church these past three-and-a-half years, Dalferes said. Our departure in a few weeks will be bittersweet as weve come to enjoy one another very much and have made some wonderful new friends.

The congregation holds its service at 11 a.m., but once back at St. Matthews, Dalferes said the service will shift to 9 a.m.

Follow this link:
Construction on St. Matthew's to be completed this year

Buy This Photo

Your Theatre will spearhead preservation efforts at First Baptist Church in exchange for shared space in the historic downtown building.John Sladewski/Standard-Times file

NEW BEDFORD The long battle to save First Baptist Church may have finally found daylight.

Your Theatre, the city's longstanding community playhouse, and First Baptist will enter a partnership that allows the theater troupe to use church space while it helps the tiny congregation preserve the historic building.

The 65-year-old theater group has been looking for a new space and the church was looking for a way to spearhead its restoration, according to Gil Cardona-Erazo, who serves on the Your Theatre facilities committee. The city brought the two together, he said, and the Waterfront Historic Area LeaguE (WHALE) helped coordinate the partnership.

"If this were a romance, the mayor's office is the matchmaker and WHALE is the wedding planner," Cardona-Erazo said.

Your Theatre currently occupies space at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in the South End and was previously located in the onetime Southeastern Massachusetts Technical Institute building that is now the Quest Center. It has been looking for a way to locate in downtown New Bedford.

First Baptist, located on William Street across from City Hall, has received several state grants to preserve its 1829 white-clapboard building but it has struggled to raise the necessary matching funds.

After the steeple began to degrade in the weather, endangering pedestrians on the sidewalk, the city of New Bedford placed a mechanical lien on the property giving it an interest in the building as the congregation seeks to preserve it. The white-spired structure is featured on the city seal, some of its members were active in the abolitionist movement and it was the inspiration for Henry Martyn Robert's development of "Robert's Rules of Order" after an unruly church meeting.

Cardona-Erazo called the theater's move an opportunity "to help the folks at First Baptist be good stewards of their building." He said it will be a rather long process before the partnership begins, and didn't have an exact timeline Tuesday.

Follow this link:
First Baptist Church finally finds preservation partner

With help from the state and federal governments, the polluted site of a former Newhallville milk-distribution operation may finally be cleaned up, paving the way for a churchs expansion.

The church, First Calvary Baptist at the corner of Dixwell Avenue and Hazel Street, has applied for an Environmental Protection Agency grant through the citys brownfields revolving loan fund. The money would go toward cleaning up environmental contamination on a city property acquired by the church in 2002.

The grant, when combined with a similar grant from the state, would total between $200,000 and $300,000.

The church, headed by the influential Rev. Boise Kimber (pictured), began construction of a new sanctuary on the site several years ago, only to discover pollution left over from a previous owner.

The site is the former home of a milk-distribution operation belonging to Sealtest Dairy. The company abandoned the property, the city took it through foreclosure in 1993, and tore down a plant there in 1994.

Were trying to clean up Newhallville, Kimber said. Our church has been here 30 years. He said the church has already invested $500,000 in the expansion project.

Asked about the clean-up, city economic development chief Matthew Nemerson said, Its a responsibility that I feel we have. We sold the land to the church and it turned out to be dirty.

Nemerson said Kimber is kicking in $37,500. The city wont pay a cent; the money comes from the EPA and is simply disbursed by the city.

We want the church to be successful, Nemerson said.

EPA revolving loan fund money is contingent upon a demonstration of community benefits, which Mayor Toni Harp requested after her administration took over the pending request, according to Nemerson. Nemerson and Kimber said the church will expand its soup kitchen, host an after-school program for the new Amistad high School being constructed across the street, and provide services for the homeless.

Go here to read the rest:
Newhallville Church Poised For Greening

If congregants at the future Lifechurch in Lower Macungie start slipping, it might have nothing to do with sin. The church is being constructed at a former roller-skating rink, and they are keeping the old rink floor.

Renovation of the former Rollermotion on Trexlertown Road is about 80 percent complete, according to Mark Bahnick, branch manager of Van Cleef Engineering Associates in Bethlehem. Bahnick came before the Lower Macungie Planning Commission on Tuesday to get approvals for plans for the church parking lot.

The church, which will be called Lifechurch Macungie, is a branch of the Lifechurch that started in Allentown in 1990 as Church on the Move and now also has a congregation in Pocono Pines, Monroe County.

The Lower Macungie congregation has been meeting at the Macungie Church of the Nazarene on Brookside Road in the township on Saturday nights for about 15 years, Bahnick said.

Lifechurch, on 4.7 acres, will be about 20,000 square feet and will seat 400 people. The congregation bought an adjacent lot, which will help it expand parking to accommodate 186 cars.

Bahnick told the township planners that the church would agree to the planners' request that it put in a walking path on the grounds.

The church plans to open in the fall, Bahnick said.

It will make do with the current water and sewage systems but hopes to connect to public water and sewers when the Trexler Senior Living Center is built across the street at 1500 Trexlertown Road, according to Sara Paindl, Lower Macungie director of planning and community development. The senior living project is seeking permits, she said.

Concordia Evangelical Lutheran Church on Brookside Road is also proposing a renovation project, but the work is still in the planning stages.

Concordia seeks to construct four classrooms for its pre-school connected to the church. Representing Concordia at the planners' meeting, Warren Riggins with Rigel Engineers & Consultants in Fogelsville said the church plans to tear down 700 square feet of office space and build an 11,000-square-foot addition with the new classrooms and a larger office space.

The rest is here:
Church rising at former roller rink in Lower Macungie

More Video...

Estonian Church gets Much Needed Renovations (6/7/14)

Historic Estonian Church gets Renovated (6/7/14)

The Estonian Evangelical Martin Luther Church is the first Estonian church built in the United States, and today it stands as the only one in the state.

Built in 1907, the building has fallen into extreme disrepair. But thanks to a group of Estonians from Chicago, it won't look that way for long. The team has volunteered to spend their Summer working to restore the church.

Bill Rebane, director of the restoration project, said they've already raised over $2,000 for the project.

"It's a monument to freedom to all those who have died under the yoke of communism during World War II," said Rebane.

Rebane started making plans for the project when one of the founders of the church asked him to renovate the historical building.

"He pleaded with me," said Rebane, "To help and maintain the church and restore it for all Estonians in America... So that's kind of the purpose of it all."

The church has been abandoned for more than 30 years now, and when it's finished Rebane wants the church to serve as a window into Estonia culture. He plans to re-open it one day as a place of worship for all denominations.

See the original post:
Historic Estonian Church gets Renovated

HUDSON When pastor Keith Phemister asked members of his church to testify on Sunday morning, Arthur Ouellette was among the first to lift his hand toward the sky.

The church has come a long way since October, when Phemister and his flock got their first glimpse of the medical office building on Derry Road that would become their new spiritual home. ... Subscribe or log in to read more

HUDSON When pastor Keith Phemister asked members of his church to testify on Sunday morning, Arthur Ouellette was among the first to lift his hand toward the sky.

The church has come a long way since October, when Phemister and his flock got their first glimpse of the medical office building on Derry Road that would become their new spiritual home.

During the last seven months, church members pitched in to renovate the space, tearing down walls, hanging decorations and creating a new place of worship for roughly 190 congregants who previously gathered each Sunday at a mill building in Nashua.

After watching his fellow church members invest their time and effort in the building, Ouellette, of Hooksett, said he prays it will be a vessel to help others in the community be saved by the churchs message.

This is the day of days to be reckoned and remembered, he said.

Members of the former Faith Baptist Church in Nashua gathered Sunday for a dedication ceremony for their new church building in Hudson. As part of the move, the church also adopted a new name Lighthouse Baptist Church reflecting its transition to a new community.

With the sun shining overhead, church members gathered outside the front entrance at 10:30 a.m. and gave thanks for their successful relocation across the border.

Ouellete and longtime church member Edward Dean began the ceremony with their personal reflections. Church members then bowed their heads as Mike Adams, who leads youth services, offered a dedication prayer.

Originally posted here:
Dedication ceremony is held for church that moved to new site

CHURCH OF ST ANDREW ALFRISTON EAST SUSSEX
St Andrew #39;s Church is the parish church of Alfriston, East Sussex, England. This Grade I listed building[1] was built in the 1370s and is also known as the #39;Cathedral of the Downs #39;.[2] It sits...

By: MrHappySnap

See the original post:
CHURCH OF ST ANDREW ALFRISTON EAST SUSSEX - Video

JEFFERSONVILLE A procession of a few hundred red rose-bearing parishioners followed the Knights of Columbus guard to the front steps of St. Augustine Catholic Church in Jeffersonville Saturday.

With only a ribbon guarding the door, the church members were ready to discover the extensive renovations that had been completed to the circa-1904 structure.

The man who cut the ribbon and was the first inside was 102-year-old St. Augustine member Tom Horn, and the members followed him inside.

Most hadnt seen the interior of the church since renovations began in February.

Broad work to the ceiling of the church was performed, and Masses were held at Sacred Heart Church in Jeffersonville during construction.

The procession launched from the Parish Hall, and the Rev. Anto Peterraj, priest and administrator at St. Augustine, announced that it was a historic day for the church.

We have come together to bless this church by offering within it the sacrifice of Christ, he said. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

And with that, about 200 people lined up to proceed to the church building for the Pentecost Mass.

While exiting the building, they were handed roses by Steve and Ann Northam to carry inside the church.

Steve Northam, 70, represents the fifth of seven generations of a family line that has and continues to attend St. Augustine.

More here:
Back home: St. Augustine in Jeffersonville reopens following renovations

The state is surveying the area of Mt. Ararat A.M.E. Church at 7061 Market Street, a historically black church on Market Street, to check for marked and unmarked graves.

As part of the planned Military Cutoff Road extension project, the cemetery of an old historic church in Ogden will be scanned for marked and unmarked graves.

Jack Provost, division construction engineer with the N.C. Department of Transportation, said the goal of the project is to not move any graves at Mt. Ararat A.M.E. Church, 7061 Market St.

"We knew we'd have an impact on the church," Provost said. "We do not know the extent of graves being removed or not."

The addition of a right turn lane from Market Street onto a planned new road has always been part of the extension schematic. The roughly 2 1/2-mile extension project, which could have a price tag pushing $113 million when all costs are factored in, would connect Market Street, where Military Cutoff currently terminates, to U.S. 17, also known as the Wilmington Bypass.

The slightest chance graves may need to be relocated, however, is something that's recently been getting some negative feedback.

New Hanover County Commissioner Jonathan Barfield said during a recent Wilmington-area transportation meeting that he has concerns DOT would even considering disinterring graves there.

"Why unearth remains for a project?" Barfield said.

State transportation officials met with church members several weeks ago to discuss the project, but county and city officials were not notified, Barfield said.

"I have a problem with not knowing about DOT even looking for the graves," said Barfield, who has family members buried there.

Continued here:
DOT to survey cemetery as part of Military Cutoff project