Dear Parishioners,
At St. Mary’s in Chewelah, the church is the most important building we have. It is where we worship, it is the house of God and a place of prayer. It should feel like a sacred space, not of this world but a beautiful doorway to heaven. The art and quality of the structure and interior should denote permeance, grace and beauty. Already the exterior structure is rather iconic for the town of Chewelah, however the interior could be more visually impactful. Many of the beautiful altars, statues and frescos were removed and destroyed some time ago. I have begun a discussion with the Pastoral Council about a possible approach on restoring and updating the church.

The church was built in the early 1900’s. This “restoration” approach, which has been taken at the Cathedral in Spokane as well as St. Patrick’s in Walla Walla, would be to restore the original beauty of the church interior. We have a rather good picture from 1911 of what the church looked like (pictured above) which can help guide us through the restoration process. Whit Baker, who has an extensive background in design, is working on a proposal for the sanctuary and Patsy Cotter has been looking at interior colors and design elements as well. We are looking into bringing back the larger altar for the tabernacle, making the statues more prominent, and possibly adding a large stained glass piece in place of the frosted window that currently overlooks the rosary garden. In a recent internet search, I found a place back East that has the exact “Cavalry scene” that graced the place above the altar of the original church; it is over 8 feet tall. It is quite beautiful and would be an amazing piece of art to add to our sanctuary.

Eventually all the lighting, floor covering, sacristy and paint will need to be updated as part of the restoration process. We will also be looking into making a larger stairway up to the choir loft. The first modernizing update will actually take place this coming week with a more modern and better quality sound system that has been on order since last fall. The installation will start Monday. It will bring in new microphones, better speakers, and possibility for hearing assistant devices to create a better experience for all who attend masses.

We are still very much in a conceptional stage of design and planning for any major restoration or renovation. When we have something more concrete to look at we will make a presentation to the parish. We will make up a budget with all the different elements under consideration. We do have some resources from the sale of the school that could be used and some fundraising will have to be done, as well as naming opportunities for individual items that are included in the project.