Restoration St Joseph s Church Orange Expression of Interest

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1 Restoration St Joseph s Church Orange Expression of Interest Request for your expression of Interest to guide and assist the restoration for the celebration of the 150 th opening of this beautiful heritage place of worship and celebration in Steering Committee ( tick to nominate ) Role is to Recommend to Parish Priest Fr Greg Bellamy a requirements plan, implementation plan and funding plan within the Local Heritage Plan and in accordance with the Catholic Celebration of the Liturgy. Fund Raising Sub Committee ( tick to nominate ) Role is to Recommend to Steering Committee sources and the raising of funding to meet the Restoration Financial Budget be they in the form of Donations, Bequests, Grants or any suitable method that contributes to completion of works. Name Address Address Phone:- (M) (H) Briefly express how you through your professional experience can contribute and commit to the achievement of the Restoration of St Joseph s Church: - Please submit your nomination by Friday 28 th September to the Parish Office 84 Hill Street

2 The Restoration of St Joseph s Church Dear friends, the Church is Christ s Body and his beloved finds forgiveness and comfort in the sacrament of Bride (cf. 1 Cor 12:12-14; Eph 5:22-33). It is the reality of Penance, where the whole community is fed by the Christian disciples living in communion with Jesus and, Eucharist, and where the individual Christian experiences through him, living in communion with each other. In silence and solitude in private prayer. other words, the Church is a reality made of flesh and blood rather than stone and mortar. Where The Church Worships The flesh and blood Church needs somewhere to gather and worship God. The earliest Christians made stable places of worship hidden away in their private homes. They were the Church-in-hiding. But ever since the Roman toleration of Christianity we have built and put aside public buildings exclusively for the purpose of The Church is made of flesh and blood worshipping God and celebrating the sacraments. The To care for the place where the community worships is worshipping community needs a spiritual home. We call part of caring for the spiritual health of the worshipping these buildings churches because they house The community. It is also part of good stewardship: both Church when it gathers together and becomes visibly respecting the hard work and sacrifices made by our manifest. forebears and ensuring that we leave an appropriate inheritance to those who follow us. In other words, caring The worship of God is the first holy duty of a Christian. for our church buildings recognises that we are just one Love of neighbour flows from God s love and grace which generation among many that make up the rich history of we experience in this worship. The place in which the Catholicism in the Orange District. Church gathers to worship God, and in which it is strengthened by sacramental grace and the proclamation of the Word of God, is the spiritual home of the local community. It is therefore right and proper that the Church has always turned to architects and artists to help ensure that these places of worship are noble and beautiful so that they may give glory to God and assist the people to turn their hearts and minds to heavenly realities. Caring for a beautiful place of worship is one of the most privileged responsibilities of a pastor. It is the place where baptisms are celebrated, where couples are joyfully united in matrimony, where mourning families commend their loved ones to God in the funeral liturgy, where the sinner St Joseph s Church Undeniably, St Joseph s Church is a very important part of the history of Catholicism in Orange. It is also a building of significant cultural importance to the wider Orange community. The first wooden church was built on the site of St Joseph s in On 4th April 1869 the foundation stone for the new St Joseph s was laid and the Church was opened and dedicated by Archbishop Polding on 30th April The bell had been forged by PNR Russell & Co, Syd in 1867.

3 It is unsurprising that the Church was dedicated to St Joseph since Pope Pius IX had named St Joseph Universal Patron of the Church in On 12th February 1898 the new sanctuary and transepts were blessed with four bishops in attendance. After the Second Vatican Council several changes were made to the Church, culminating in the blessing of the refurbished sanctuary by Bishop Dougherty on 19th April The Russell & Co. Bell with its Yoke has been entering through the louvered openings for many years. It is for this reason that the bell tower has had to be closed and the bell has fallen silent. Further investigation is needed to determine the condition of the wooden framework that supports the spire itself. The roof of St Joseph s suffers from many missing and cracked slates as well as from some inadequate repairs The new St Joseph s th made in the past. Water enters the Church in several 30 April 2021 will be the sesquicentenary of the opening places when it is raining. The dormer roof vents are also in and dedication of the Church. This seems a good time to very poor condition. take stock of the condition of the Church and to work towards preserving it into the future and ensuring it is suitably noble and beautiful. For this reason, we have spent the last 12 months engaging a number of professionals to help us assess the condition of the Church. A brief summary of the most important results of these initial investigations is provided here. The Challenge Ahead Initial investigations of the Bell tower have revealed deterioration of the timber yoke, pulley wheel and supporting framework of the Russell & Co bell. Water 1 Thanks to Margaret Bastick for her research into the history of St Joseph s. Dormer Roof Vents & Slates

4 The walls of St Joseph s are made of porous brick, lime jointing and plaster. However, over the years impervious concrete and bitumen footpaths have been added to the Church precinct and so sealed the ground around the Church. As a result, excess moisture is drawn through the walls of the Church and evaporates leaving salt crystals. This evaporation accounts for the deteriorating mortar, plaster and paint. This rising damp problem needs to be addressed. As many people have noticed, the flooring of St Joseph s makes alarming sounds and springs up and down in several places. The condition of the floor and its supports requires further investigation. The adequacy of air flow in the foundations of the Church also needs to be determined. An example of a damaged window Our Hardman windows stand out as one of the most that the beauty and historical integrity of the interior of beautiful aspects of the Church. All stained-glass windows the building is valued and protected into the future. eventually need to be re-leaded. Lead weakens over time due to the constant expansion and contraction which is the result of constant changes in temperature. Our windows, particularly the original windows in the main body of the Church, are well and truly overdue for serious restoration work. We recently removed the windows in Sacred buildings and requisites for divine worship should be truly worthy and beautiful and be signs and symbols of heavenly realities.2 the main body of the Church with some urgency in order to prevent further damage. The time has come to address these concerns. They should be addressed, not in a haphazard way, but through careful Addressing these concerns also provides an opportunity to planning and a coordinated strategy that involves both the address other important though less urgent issues. For Catholic community and the wider community and which example, the renewal of the electrical wiring in the values both historical conservation considerations and the Church, the provision of smoke alarms, the provision of need for the Church building to be a suitable space for the better lighting that showcases the building, the renewal of celebration of Catholic liturgy. It is both an historical the sacristy areas, the renovation of the confessional, location and a living and active space, and so the building finding a way to better display the beautiful six Irish saint should be both beautiful and practical. statuettes below the tabernacle, and otherwise ensuring 2 General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM), no. 288.

5 The First Steps A project to restore St Joseph s would address three priority areas in this order of importance: 1. urgent issues concerning the safety of the public 2. important issues pertaining to the long-term structural integrity of the building 3. issues pertaining to the appearance and aesthetic quality of the building and its fixtures. At the two meetings I invited expressions of interest from the public to help guide and assist myself, together with the Parish Finance Council and the Parish Staff, in the development, funding, and execution of a restoration project. We are calling for expressions of interest to form a St Joseph s Restoration Steering Committee and a St Joseph s Restoration Fundraising Subcommittee. The role of the Steering Committee is to recommend to the Parish Priest a requirements plan, implementation plan, and funding plan within the Local Heritage Plan and in accordance with the principals and directions outlined in the Church s relevant Liturgical documents. The role of the Fundraising Subcommittee is to recommend to the Steering Committee sources and approaches to the raising of funds to meet the Restoration Budget, be they in the form of donations, bequests, grants, or any other suitable method that contributes to the completion of works. The Expression of Interest Form is printed on the back of the The Hill St Retaining Wall As an urgent priority, the Parish Finance Council advised me to separate the structural issues in the Hill St retaining wall from the larger project so that it could be attended to as soon as possible. After approving a re-construction project, our structural engineers and the contractor have found significant problems with the original approach to the project. As a result, a new approach is being developed which will go through a new tender process. I will advise the parish as soon as this is finalised. Our first step in progressing the larger St Joseph s project was to call two community meetings on Sunday 19 th August and Tuesday 21 st August I am grateful to all those who braved the cold to attend, especially our two guest speakers: Margaret Bastick (who literally wrote the book on St Joseph s) and Robbie Seville (from Robin Seville Glass Design). parish bulletin and is also available from the parish office. The form should be submitted to the Parish Office by close of business on Friday 28 th September 2018 either in hard copy or by (office.orange@cdob.org.au). Applicants to either committee should indicate how their professional experience can contribute to the achievement of the restoration project. During October I will be consulting with the Parish Finance Council on whom among the many applicants we will call to these committees. This is a daunting project, the likes of which a community only has to face once every few generations. But it is also an exciting opportunity. May God bless this project so the restoration of the brick and mortar building might be a sign of the restoration of the flesh and blood faith community. Fr Gregory Bellamy PP