Monday, August 18, 2014 1:12 PM EDT

By ERICA SCHMITT STAFF WRITER

NEW BRITAIN Its not surprising that a church founded on unity would welcome people of all ethnicities to its annual events.

And thats exactly how St. Peters Church operates, from Sundays annual summer picnic to its Oktoberfest on Sept. 27.

I love the parishioners here; they have withstood a lot of hardships but are very loyal and welcoming to everyone, Bernadette Janiol, the church secretary and bookkeeper, said Sunday.

The second oldest church in New Britain, St. Peters was established in 1873 by German immigrants. In 1890 they began construction on the church building in Franklin Square.

They started with the cellar and ran out of money, said Franz Kuch, a lifelong parishioner. They raised more money and 10 years later built the upstairs, he continued.

When French-speaking families settled in the area, they looked to form a Catholic church.

They were going to build their own, but didnt have enough money, added Kuch. The priest here at the time spoke German, French and English, so he asked them to join this church.

That would be the Rev. Charles Coppens.

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Picnic reflects church's origins

By Sara Waite

Journal-Advocate managing editor

Rick Weingardt, chair of First Presbyterian Church's property committee, directs longtime members, from left, Jim Williamson, Jenevieve DeSoto, Mary May, James Leh, Warren Brown, Barbara Armstrong and Harry Peterson in the groundbreaking for the church's elevator and Americans with Disabilities Act addition Sunday, Aug. 17, after the worship service. (Sara Waite / Sterling Journal-Advocate)

Members at First Presbyterian Church fill their plates from a potluck buffet after the groundbreaking celebration Sunday. (Sara Waite / Sterling Journal-Advocate)

"Build up, build up, prepare the way. Remove every obstruction from my people's way."

The passage from Isaiah 57 couldn't have been more fitting as the theme of First Presbyterian Church's "ADA/HC Restoration/Elevator Installation Project Groundbreaking Celebration" Sunday.

After their regular worship service, the congregation gathered outside the church to officially mark the beginning of a project that will provide handicapped access to all three levels of the building.

Several members of the committees involved in putting the project together spoke about the project, which will feature an addition with an elevator and "open the doors to all who wish to enter."

Members of the congregation's youngest generation participate in the groundbreaking celebration for First Presbyterian Church's ADA/HC Restoration/Elevator Installation Project Sunday. (Sara Waite / Sterling Journal-Advocate)

Rick Weingardt, chair of the property committee, thanked those who donated to the fund for the project, noting that it took just six months and 100 individual contributions to meet the goal.

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Church breaks ground on ADA-access project

COBDEN -- More than a thousand miles away in Cobden, Matt Hartlines thoughts rarely wander very far from a desert in Northern Mexico.

Each year Hartline leaves the village of Cobden, where he serves as associate pastor of First Baptist Church, and travels with members of his church to El Coyote, a small remote village in the Chihuahuan Desert of Mexico.

For him, its more than just a trip out of the country, though, referring to it as a calling from God.

We are called to missions, but we are called to go to El Coyote, Mexico, Hartline said. We are not just doing random missions, but were called to go there. All of us have a heart for the Mexican people, for these people.

Beginning a dental ministry

Brian and Sherri Lukes, members of First Baptist Church of Cobden, began making the trip to Mexico more than 14 years ago after hearing a woman speak about using what God has given you to do ministry.

Sherri had taught dental hygiene at SIU for 25 years, and so she wanted to clean peoples teeth, meet their physical needs and while theyre waiting in line, share the gospel, Brian Lukes, her husband, said.

The mission work began meagerly, with Sherri setting up a lawn chair at a garbage dump in Matamoros, Mexico, just across the border from Brownsville, Texas, and cleaning teeth while her husband and others built a soup kitchen in the dump.

They expanded their ministry over the next four years, going deeper into the heart of Mexico to Palmillas. While Brian and others from the church did construction work, Sherri cleaned teeth with the help of three to six of her SIU dental hygiene students.

But after hearing about Octavio, a missionary from Mexico City, and his wife, who is a dentist and has a dental operatory and a dormitory for mission groups in El Coyote, the Lukes and others from the Cobden church have been returning each year to the tiny desert village.

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Cobden church has heart for Mexico

Courtesy: Brittany Pistole

Courtesy: Brittany Pistole

Courtesy: Brittany Pistole

UPDATE 8/15/14 @ 5:36 p.m. NEW BOSTON, Ohio (WSAZ) -- A church in New Boston, Ohio is in shambles after a truck smashed through one of its walls.

Police believe the truck was topping out at more than 60 miles per hour before it hit a sign, flipped and landed inside the church.

Investigators said the driver, Samuel Gibson, 21, was drunk and the underage passenger, Zachary Cunningham, 19, was too.

Church leaders said the damage may be bad enough to condemn the building and force them to start from scratch.

"You have a huge hole in the side of your church, it was an accident," said Rev. Mike Percell.

That's the call Rev. Percell got around 4 a.m. Friday, after police said a drunk driver crashed through a fence, a sign and finally, into New Boston Nazarene Church.

"It damaged several pews, of course the walls, the complete wall is structurally unsafe, it is off-limits now to the public," he said.

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UPDATE: Suspected Drunk Driver Crashes into Church

For the first time since Fidel Castros rebel army overthrew the government of Fulgencio Batista in 1959, Cuba will see the construction of a new Catholic church.

In the ambitious project slated to start in the eastern Cuban city of Santiago, 25 tons of scrap metal used to construct the stage for Pope Benedict XVIs 2012 visit to the island will be recycled and used to build the new church.

"Reusing the metal means keeping alive the memory of something good for us Catholics. It gives it new life, so it can serve future generations," Fausto Vlez, the engineer in charge of the project told the BBC.

While the church hopes to start raising the metal beams soon to start construction, it first must raise the money needed to fund the project. So far the church's main backer is Tampa's St. Lawrence parish, which consists mostly of the members who are either descendants of Cuban exiles or exiles themselves.

Though once-atheist Cuba has loosened its law against religion secret baptisms are gone and even some Communist party members worship freely the now secular state still has a dearth of churches. The Catholic Church has only been able to renovate existing structures or rebuild ones that had collapsed.

With only one more building permit pending, Catholics in Santiago are hopeful that their new church will soon herald more construction in the city, badly damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

Along with leaving 11 people dead, the hurricane destroyed Santiagos wooden church of San Pedrito. The 93-year-old church is now little more than a concrete floor and an outline of its foundation, with whatever surviving remains candlesticks, a wooden lectern and two chipped figurines from the nativity scene stored at an elderly womans house across the street.

The rest [of artifacts] were carried off by thieves," said Marta Prez, who gathers with other parishioners in the Churchs ruins whenever a priest visits the area. "We really need our church back."

While parishioners of the San Pedrito Church hope to have their place of worship rebuilt, not far from there, in a neighborhood built after the revolution, the site of the new church is already lined up. It will take the space of a former parking lot, and according to the architectural drawing, the metal beams from 2102's stage will feature prominently in the new house of worship.

The permit still needs to be issued and $250,000 to finance the project most from parishes abroad like Tampa's St. Lawrence still needs to be raised, but Church officials are optimistic about the future of their new home and about the warming of relations between church and the Cuban state.

Excerpt from:
Cubans await construction of 1st new Catholic church since 1959 revolution

AP

Pope Benedict XVI and Cuban President Raul Castro walk outside the Revolution palace at the end of their meeting in Havana on 27 March 2012.

A team of Cuban workers are only one permit away from beginning construction on the communist country's first Catholic church since 1959.

The engineers plan to use scrap metal from a stage built for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's 2012 visit in the church's construction.

The head engineer, Fausto Veloz, described the magnitude of using pieces of the historical stage.

"Reusing the metal means keeping alive the memory of something good for us Catholics," he told BBC News. "It gives it new life, so it can serve future generations."

Cuba is officially a secular statethey removed their atheist classification in 1992although an estimated60 per cent of their population is Catholic. No new churches have been sanctioned by the government, and church leaders were only allowed to renovate existing buildings. Other buildings received no renovations, and the country is dotted with former sanctuaries that are now mostly wreckage. Theft from churches is reportedly common.

"We really need our church back," Maria Perez told BBC. Her former church, San Predito, was looted and destroyed. Perez said that former congregants gather in the streets for mass whenever a travelling priest visits.

Cuban Christians without a church home also gather in each other's homes for service, but they look forward to the day they can worship inside a sanctuary.

"The Catholic community is big here but they've never had a church," Veloz said.

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Cuba to build its first Catholic church in over 50 years

It cost a mere 120 to buy from Harrods and arrived on a truck as a flat-pack kit more than a century ago.

Maesbury tin tabernacle church with the memorial to the fallen in the First World War

But Maesburys iconic tin tabernacle church has stood the test of time and is still a much-loved building in the community.

The 108-year-old parish church shows few signs of wear and tear at first glance, and is believed to be one of only two examples of its kind in Shropshire, the other being Knowle Mission Room near Clee Hill in the south of the county.

Assistant churchwarden Maureen Ross said the tiny church is still well used by villagers, with a steady attendance at Sunday services and outreach activities held throughout the year.

It is also popular with visitors, including users of the nearby canal who occasionally pop in to join in with Sunday services.

Weve been opening every day since June and weve had some lovely comments from people saying theyve always wanted to come in, she said.

The interior wood panels are still in lovely condition I understand its the same as it was when it opened.

The churchs exterior is striking, with its small bell house, arched windows and clean white walls making it stand out from the neighbouring houses.

It was built as a result of demand in the village, which at the time had no Anglican building and just a Welsh chapel.

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Shropshire flat-pack church is a county treasure

KENSINGTON An iconic Unitarian church is finding itself at odds with a group of its neighbors upset about a church plan to sell six acres of open space on its property for development.

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley is considering subdividing part of its hillside land into as many as 11 parcels which would be developed for single-family homes to raise money for repairs to its 53-year-old church building and the surrounding landscaping and patio areas.

The parcels, located on Lawson Road and Highland Boulevard in Kensington and Craft Avenue in El Cerrito, will be worth an estimated $350,000 to $400,000 apiece, according to Linda Laskowski, chairwoman of the church's land use task force.

Laskowski said the church needs a new roof, its kitchen and bathrooms need to be remodeled and handicapped access needs to be improved, along with other work, and the congregation currently has no other means to pay for it.

"It's a lot of stuff that normally happens to a building after 50 years," she said.

However, a group that calls itself UUCB Neighbors has expressed concerns about development, saying that they don't want to lose the views of San Francisco Bay and the "parklike feel" of the land, which the neighbors use for hiking, dog walking and other outdoor activities.

UUCB Neighbors spokeswoman Pansy Kwong, who lives on Craft Avenue, said her group is looking for alternatives to help the church do the repairs, but they haven't come up with any specific ideas so far.

Kwong said that, besides concerns about the loss of use of the open space, neighbors are also worried about increased traffic if homes are built on the property.

She said she has 43 Kensington and El Cerrito residents on her e-mail list.

"It's a very special little spot, with views of the Bay," Kwong said. "Eleven houses would change the environment and give us years of construction."

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Kensington church considers subdividing land

DENHAM SPRINGS, LA (WAFB) -

A church that sits on the corner in Denham Springs has a short time left standing. Eden Baptist Church, on the corner of Florida Boulevard and Eden Church Road, will be demolished by the state to make room for traffic improvements.

Eden Baptist Church is 141 years old, one of the oldest churches in Livingston Parish.

Three years ago, the church closed its doors and Pastor Willis Easley and Christ's Community Church moved into the building. Prior to that, Easley said his members met at Denham Springs Junior High on Sunday's.

Eighteen months after moving, Easley says they started hearing talk about a roundabout that was going to be built on Eden Church Road and Florida Boulevard.

The state's Department of Transportation and Development held a public hearing, Easley went. He says there he saw pictures of a red line through his sanctuary, when he asked what the line was he says he was told it was the state's right-of-way.

DOTD says the intersection where Eden Baptist sits is too congested. According to the state agency, 23,600 cars travel there each day. A roundabout, or traffic circle, is planned for the intersection to help with congestion and safety. Doing so means the church, which the state now owns, will be demolished.

"In just a few years, kids won't know why they call that Eden Church Road," Easley said.

Easely says he was told his church needed to be out of the building by August 1, 2014.

They started construction on a more permanent location for the church April 1, 2014. It's located on Juban Road, south of I-12.

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141-year-old church to be demolished for traffic roundabout

Members of Abiding Word Church in Sterling, Illinois are doing what they can to give back to a local soldier who was injured in Afghanistan by building him and his family a home in Harmon, Illinois.

Michael Shoemaker was badly injured while serving in Afghanistan two years ago. After plans fell through for Abiding Word Church to build a home in Joplin, Missouri, they reached out to a local veterans organization to find a veteran they could help. Shoemaker paid for the lot and foundation for the home, but the church is covering the cost of everything else.

Monday, August 11, 2014 the framing on the house was up and crews were working on the roof portion of the house.

Ya know, I see soldiers and I think, Wow! This is somebody who is willing to go and make the ultimate sacrifice for us so that we can be free,' said Steve Aurand, owner of S & D Construction in Dixon, Illinois and member of Abiding Word Church, who is offering services for free.

When I found out they were going to build it here in town, then I said, Ill bring my whole crew and Ill help you do the rough framing,' said Aurand.

I volunteered to do the heating and cooling and the plumbing, said Mitchell McNinch, owner of Heat-Co Mechanical in Sterling, Illinois and member of Abiding Word Church.

McNinch estimates that at least 100 people will have helped with the home by the time its all said and done.

He served the country, he helped us out, wed like to return the favor, he said.

Those working on the home hope to have it completed by Christmas 2014.

The church is still looking for help covering the cost of shingles, insulation, drywall and siding. To donate, contact Abiding Word Church in Sterling at 815-626-1827.

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Construction starts on donated home for injured veteran