In October 2020, the community of St. John Cassian Chapel in Bessemer, AL found and purchased a new church building. Already in the process of renovation by the previous owners, it seemed a perfect fit for an Orthodox worship space. Now, the community is nearly at the end of the last phase of renovation, and beginning to see the progress in more dramatic ways.
Parts of the exterior are being re-bricked, and the exterior has been primed, readying it for final painting. The new roof – a bright, Mediterranean-inspired blue – has been put on. Work continues on the interior, with painting and finishing the ceilings the next to be completed, as well as finishing the HVAC replacement in the downstairs of the add-on. Even these incomplete cosmetic changes have made a huge impact on the 63-year-old building.
However, as is so often the case with renovations, once demolition began, some serious issues appeared that had to be addressed, which were not in the original budget. Not only did the parish have to rewire the whole building (something that had been expected, given its age), they also discovered that attempts by the previous owners to fix the leaking roof over the 50-year-old add-on in the back had only served to exacerbate the problem. As a result, not only did they have to repair the previous owners’ attempt to fix it, by resetting the engineered roof beam which spans almost the entire width of the building, they also had to replace all of the rafters and the plywood before the new metal roofing could be installed. With the recent spike in lumber prices, this additional expense, plus the lumber and engineered beams to reinforce the ceiling over the altar, cost $20,000 more than the original budget. Another $10,000 budget overrun occurred through additional changes necessary for HVAC and bringing the restrooms and side entrance up to handicap accessibility code.
Despite these setbacks, the community is hoping to be moving in to the church – located at 1731 13th Street N building before the Church New Year (Indiction) on September 1/14. They will gratefully accept any assistance that anyone would like to offer, in terms of monetary donations, or for those local to us, in helping physically move in, and would greatly appreciate help from anyone who might have experience with carpentry, cabinetry, and/or construction.
On Wednesday, August 18, the eve of the great feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, the vintage hardwood flooring in the nave and narthex were sanded, re-stained, and polyurethaned. The interior of the nave continues to have other work being done. The ceiling and walls have been primed and are ready to be painted. The re-stain makes it impossible to see where the patches were made to cover over the holes from vents for the removed gas furnace. This is a very beautiful result from saving the old, vintage hardwood flooring, that will serve to be a beautiful feature of the new temple for many years to come.
Please continue to pray for the St. John Cassian community and for this project. To receive more information, please visit their website and follow them on Facebook here. Remember that you can be a benefactor of St. John Cassian Church by donating through PayPal or Square, and that all your donations are tax-deductible.
