Map of the affected area of the future project on Church Street. /Matthew Thielke

OTTUMWA, IOWA -- A major construction project will shut down two blocks of Church Street on Ottumwas south side for over two months.

That's what city officials told the public at the informational neighborhood meeting concerning the upcoming Church Street reconstruction project.

The city says starting on April 6, Church Street will be closed from Ransom to Richmond Streets.

During the 10-week project, the city will be installing a new water main along with storm and sanitation lines, as well as putting in new sidewalks.

Ottumwa City Administrator Joe Helfenberger says federal and state grants are the only reason these projects can happen.

We are very happy to be able to do these projects, and the only reason we are able to do as much construction as we can is because the city is gotten about 76 percent grants for the last two years, Helfenberger said.

The city says they are creating custom signs for detouring traffic around the area.

All businesses on Church Street will remain open during the construction work.

The city encourages anyone with questions about the reconstruction project to call or visit city hall.

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Ottumwa prepares for Church Street reconstruction

Every Sunday, the downtown congregation of First Presbyterian Church gets together to talk about one of the more famous carpenters in history.

On March 1, as part of an annual partnership with Habitat for Humanity called Project 240, church members gave the old trade a try. The project turned the First Presbyterian parking lot into a construction site as about 300 volunteers worked to build the frames of five Habitat houses within the span of 240 minutes.

Interim Pastor Ron Scates made his way through the crowd of volunteers as music blasted overhead.

This is absolutely awesome, he said. Just to see all these folks, Id like to say, 'walking the walk instead of 'talking the talk. Its easy to go to church then go home but these folks are sacrificing their time, their energy. Theres a lot of other things to do on a Sunday afternoon.

Habitat for Humanity official Stephanie Wiese said Project 240 has been going strong for four years. Habitat works with about 15,000 volunteers each year to build apprximately 55 homes throughout San Antonio.

Habitat needs lots of supporters, so we cant do it without the help of churches like First Presbyterian, Wiese said. The more the merrier.

Ruth Bixcul, 34, and her son, John Saenz, 11, will live in one of the homes assembled at the event. Bixcul, who came to San Antonio from Houston about a decade ago, will live with Saenz near JT Brackenridge Elementary school on the near West Side.

Its really exciting, especially bringing our kids so they can see what its like to be part of building homes for people like us people who need a home, an affordable home, said Bixcul, whos already logged about 300 sweat equity hours with Habitat, where future homeowners also work alongside volunteers.

Saenz has been with his mom every step of the way.

It feels good to be working on this house, he said. (We) have an opportunity here.

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Downtown church lays frames for West Side homes

The Madison Plan Commission delayed the construction of a new church and elementary school on the east side during its meeting Monday night, after high costs forced architects to change their original plans for the building.

Architect David Baum, who presented the changes to the commission, said costs for the new church had increased over the winter and exceeded its budget, leading the architects to redesign the buildings planned gymnasium.

We tried to anticipate that [cost] by providing three options with the basement, a half gym and material reductions, and those didnt even satisfy the costs, Baum said.

The church and elementary school belong to the Holy Cross Lutheran Church. The ministry is planning to relocate from its longtime home on Milwaukee Street to a 12-acre plot on Holy Cross Way, on the eastern edge of town. The church hopes to expand its early childhood center and elementary school with the larger space, according to its website.

In order to cut costs, one of the gyms walls would have to be built from metal rather than the original cement, Baum said.

Baum said the metal would have to be painted a different color from the buildings cement walls because they are different materials. Designers made that change Monday morning, too soon for a colored elevation plan to be redrawn. This led the commission to hold off on making a decision until new colored elevations were submitted.

[The Plan Commission] asked for us to submit colored elevations to ensure that we dont just have a big, green building, Baum said. They want some interest to the building based on the colors.

During that meeting, the Plan Commission also approved extending the construction period for a new St. Paul University Catholic Center on State Streets 700 block. St. Paul plans to break ground for the new church in 2016.

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Plan Commission delays church construction

NEW YORK (WABC) --

The afternoon sun broke through the clouds as the majestic procession for Cardinal Egan got underway at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Priests and clergy, bishops and cardinals entered the great cathedral as New York's current archbishop - Timothy Cardinal Dolan - greeted them.

Inside the church, a who's who of dignitaries listened as Cardinal Dolan spoke about his predecessor.

Egan, he said, was a gift from God who worked heroically for parishes, charities, health care and education.

Dolan told the 2,500 people packing the cathedral that Egan "was uncomfortable with eulogies" but Dolan went on to praise him nonetheless. He said Catholics from fellow cardinals to "God's good people" could tell of "consolation given on and after 9/11, prayers offered, sick visited, prisoners encouraged, children taught, immigrants welcomed, and parishes strengthened."

"Now this Church thanks God for him and commends his noble, priestly soul to the everlasting mercy of Jesus," Dolan said.

Egan died Thursday after a heart attack. A Vatican theological force, he led the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York for almost a decade, including on Sept. 11, 2001, when hijacked planes destroyed the World Trade Center and more than 2,700 died. In the days and weeks that followed, Egan performed many funerals.

"I remember one particular firefighter's funeral that he presided over that was so moving and so beautiful," former Mayor Rudy Giuliani said. "And then what people didn't know is even when he didn't preside over a funeral, he would often drive out to a parish and just sit there and give a blessing."

Among those taking part in the funeral Mass were Cardinal Egan's family members, who served as lectors, readers and gift bearers.

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Thousands turn out to bid a final farewell to Cardinal Edward Egan

Demolition began last week of a century-old church building in Shenandoah that housed a convent and an archival center for a possible future saint.

Workers began taking down the three-story building that was constructed as a convent and rectory during the leadership of the Rev. John Dobrowski, who became pastor of St. Casimir Church on Nov. 29, 1912.

From the time of its construction, the convent was the Shenandoah home of the Bernardine Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis (OSF) and was being used as such until last year when structural problems caused the sisters to leave.

The half of the building closest to the church that had served as the parish rectory was the Ciszek Center, the headquarters of the Father Walter Ciszek Prayer League, which was formed in 1985 to promote the cause for canonization of Father Ciszek, a Shenandoah native who was a prisoner in the Soviet Union for 23 years.

The cause officially began in 1989 five years after Father Ciszeks death in the Ruthenian Byzantine Eparchy of Passaic. After the retirement of the Most Rev. Michael J. Dudick as bishop, the cause moved to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown in 1998 through the support of the Most Rev. Thomas J. Welsh, bishop. It was after the diocesan change that the headquarters was moved from Sugarloaf Township to Shenandoah.

The cause for canonization is currently being reviewed in the Vatican.

In addition to memorabilia of the life of Father Ciszek, the building also held a Perpetual Adoration chapel. The prayer leagues board president is Monsignor Ronald C. Bocian, pastor of Divine Mercy Church in Shenandoah, with St. Casimir Church as a worship center. Attempts to contact Monsignor Bocian for information on the demolition were not successful.

Prayer league board member Elaine Cusat said the league is in transition with its location due to the need to move.

Were projecting well be getting ready with a new center in the spring, said Cusat.

The new center will be located in the former Annunciation BVM Church rectory on the 200 block of West Cherry Street near Divine Mercy Church and Trinity Academy.

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Shenandoah church building razed

Members of the North Spartanburg Rotary Club participated in a wall-raising celebration at a Habitat for Humanity house on West Centennial Street in Spartanburg Saturday morning.

Volunteers from Habitat for Humanity of Spartanburg, the North Spartanburg Rotary Club and Inman Baptist Church came together on Saturday to start construction on the 111th Habitat home in Spartanburg County.

The build was the product of a new partnership between Habitat for Humanity and the Rotary Club. Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Lee Close said the partnership with the Rotary Club started when Rotary Club President Ueli Schmid approached him in the hallway of their church, Inman Baptist Church.

Schmid said he wanted the organization to get involved with a project to give back to the community. The Rotary Club voted to sponsor the entire Habitat for Humanity house on its own.

I was completely blown away, Close said. It's a rare thing for a single organization to sponsor an entire Habitat House. We are enormously blessed to have this opportunity to work together.

Close said an overwhelming majority, 92 percent, of the Rotary Club's members voted in support of the project.

It's a big thing to have that support. It all comes down to folks wanting to help others, he said.

During a small ceremony before construction began, Schmid thanked volunteers from all three organizations that came out on a cold Saturday morning.

Milestones like this will be remembered, he said.

The house is one of many Habitat for Humanity has built on Centennial Street to help revitalize north Spartanburg. The development borders Spartanburg Medical Center's campus and is adjacent to Cleveland Park.

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Civic group, church work together on Habitat house

Enterprise, Miss. Nearly a year ago members of Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Clarke County were building a brand new church when the unthinkable happened. Vandals and thieves struck their construction site, busting part of the foundation and stealing numerous items from construction wire to lumber. Reverend Jimmie Bunch told Newscenter 11 last year it set them back a couple of days, and they looked at it as though it was just a stumbling block. Fast forward to the year 2015 and there is no sign of a construction site; instead, in it's place, sits a newly built church.

"We're thankful to God that he's brought us all this way from the old building into the new building, even with all of the mishaps," Bunch said. "Everything by the grace of God is culminated together and we are coming into this new sanctuary today."

Reverend Bunch says nearly $5,000 worth of materials were stolen, but through the help of The Indian Grave Baptist Church Construction Mission Team, Mississippi Campers on Mission, and prayer they were able to recieve some dynamic help.

"We worked ourselves to a frazzle, but that's all in trying to accomplish what you need," said Bunch.

The church was founed in the late 1800s and has long been a staple in the community. Reverend Bunch says they continue to make strides in the community.

"We've had some obstacles that we ran into, but we kept the faith, we

Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist church is located in Enterprise in the Northwestern part of Clarke County and is situated right off of Highway 514.

Originally posted here:
One Church Overcomes Obstacles after Vandalism

Published: Saturday, March 7, 2015 at 11:00 p.m. Last Modified: Saturday, March 7, 2015 at 11:00 p.m.

In this alternate history, the congregation would have gathered to commemorate 30 years since the opening service was held at the North Lakeland sanctuary Feb. 10, 1985.

Instead, the hulking, octagonal structure, a building whose construction anticipated the national rise of megachurches, will soon crumble without ceremony.

"It really feels like a dear old friend is going to die," said Faith Turnage Hallock, a Lakeland resident who attended Carpenter's Home Church and its affiliated Evangel Christian School. "I was literally in tears when I found out. I know it's a building, but what people don't understand is to those of us who grew up there and love it, it was more than just a building; it was part of our life."

It has been a decade since Polk County's largest church sanctuary was known as Carpenter's Home Church. The structure had been home to Without Walls Central Church from 2005 until its services fizzled out in 2011.

But for many in Polk County, the sanctuary still represents Carpenter's Home, the church that inhabited the building for two decades.

Hallock met her husband of 18 years when both were youths attending the church. Other former members talked of getting married or being baptized or seeing children or grandchildren baptized in the church.

Hallock, 41, created a Facebook page, "I Used To Be A CHC Kid!" in 2009. She has posted links to news articles about Without Walls, culminating in a report that the property had been sold to Cook Development in Daytona Beach, which plans to raze the church building and convert a 1920s-era structure formerly home to Evangel Christian School into an assisted-living facility.

"Heartbreaking," one woman wrote in a typical comment reacting to that news. Amid the sorrow, though, Hallock and others say the imminent destruction has spurred them to share happy memories of Carpenter's Home Church.

"It stamped our life forever," said Lou Frye, who attended the church with his family from 1985 to 2003, commuting from Brandon in the early years before moving closer. "Although we were already born again, when we got there it was almost like we got born again, again."

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A Vanishing Mega Church in North Lakeland

St Marys Dousman. New church construction
This is a collage of photos that were taken around the time of the building of a new Church at St. Mary #39;s Dousman. I thought it would be nice with no narration.

By: Liz Riedel

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St Marys Dousman. New church construction - Video

Planned Parethood supporters are gathering outside a local church Saturday to protest efforts against construction of a new facility in New Orleans.

Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast organized the "Stand with Women" rally, which begins at 1:30 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church on South Claiborne Avenue.

According to the organization, the rally was put together in support of a new Planned Parenthood facility in the Crescent City and to celebrate International Women's Day.

"For more than a year, extreme opponents of women's access to reproductive health care and sexual health education have launched protest and intimidation campaigns to try to stop the construction of a a much-needed larger, health center," Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast said.

READ: Health Department blocks abortions at new Planned Parenthood facility

In January, the organization learned that the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals had rejected its application seeking to perform abortion services at a facility that is under construction in New Orleans on Claiborne Avenue.

According to reports, the letter states the organization did not demonstrate a need for another abortion facility in Louisiana. The process is required under regulations enacted in 2012.

Abortion rights supporters say the decision is one of a series of actions Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration has taken to create roadblocks for women seeking the procedure in Louisiana.

WATCH: Planned Parenthood Files Appeal to Offer Abortions at New Facility

Currently, Louisiana has five abortion clinics. The new facility in New Orleans would become the third clinic to offer abortions in the Crescent City. A spokesperson told WDSU this recent decision by the DHH will not impact or stop plans to construct the New Orleans Planned Parenthood facility.

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Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast organizes rally outside New Orleans church