Restoration of historic St. Matthew's Church is well underway

The St. Matthew’s Catholic Church sanctuary, where parishioners have gathered on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day for well over a century, will be silent tonight.

But next door in the St. Matthew’s School gymnasium, Mass will be celebrated at 4, 6 and 9 p.m. tonight and at 10 a.m. on Christmas Day, continuing the time-honored tradition of worship.

Church members have been using the gym, where an altar was set up, as a temporary sanctuary for more than seven months as the restoration of the historic church is underway following an accidental fire that started in the basement kitchen the evening of Mother’s Day, causing heavy damage to the building.

After the smoke cleared, the work began assessing the damage and reconstructing the 108-year-old church. The church basement, known as the Doran Center, sustained the most damage and was gutted to the stone foundation walls. Although firefighters contained the blaze to the basement, the church sanctuary upstairs sustained severe smoke damage and was stripped down to the wood floorboards and ceiling beams.

Cushing Terrell, formerly CTA, was hired to do the architectural and engineering work, and Swank Enterprises was chosen as the general contractor to remodel the historic church. A building committee began outlining all immediate needs for the church, both on the interior and exterior.

“In analyzing overall magnitude of the project facing us, we were faced with a choice — return St. Matthew’s to the same status as it was right before the fire or elevate St. Matthew’s to a level that will serve our faith community for generations into the future” said St. Matthew’s building committee member Ken Parker, who also serves on the church finance council.

“The choice is obvious,” Parker said during a well-attended presentation about St. Matthew’s ReNew fundraising campaign on Dec. 10.

The church has set a goal to raise $1.5 million to upgrade aging infrastructure and create a more functional space beyond what insurance will pay to replace what was damaged by the fire. Dave Hergesheimer, chairman of St. Matthew’s finance council, said the church is still working with the insurance company to pin down what amount will be paid to cover fire damages.

Parker went over what crews have been working on.

“The new bathrooms and the new kitchen [in the basement] are roughed in,” Parker said. “The elevator plans are being finalized and the work on that should start soon. The lower level foundation should be insulated this week and the electrical rough-in will follow. The new radiant floor system will follow shortly.”

“While insurance will cover the greater cost of the building,” Parker said, including bringing the building up to code with installation of a fire suppression system and making it wheelchair accessible, “it will not cover every improvement that was not related [to fire damage] or is improved above what was there before. That will have to be paid for by St. Matthew’s.”

One example was the decision to install radiant floor heating throughout the building. Through elimination of the old furnace system in the basement, square footage was freed up to create an enclosed room with a screen that may be used for overflow seating during Mass and as a prayer room. By reworking the space, architects have designed the Doran Center to serve as a more functional place for fellowship and meetings. The area will include a meeting room, serving kitchen, buffet/coffee bar and seating and a general flexible space with a projection screen. Additionally, there is space set aside for storage, fire and elevator equipment and utilities.

The church sanctuary will remain relatively similar to its former layout.

Upgraded sound and lighting will be installed throughout the building.

In looking at the entire structure, the building committee saw pressing needs for improving the safety and longevity of the exterior.

“We realized we had this new opportunity to address this issue. The ReNew campaign will raise money to revitalize the infrastructure,” Parker said before listing off the projects slated to be addressed, in order of importance. “Some of these projects outlined here will require immediate attention; others can be done as the money is raised.”

Once the church interior is remodeled, the next priority is replacing the two parking lots on the church campus, followed by re-roofing and replacing roof flashing on the church. The fourth priority is waterproofing the exterior perimeter of the building.

“We still have water penetrating through the foundation of the building,” Parker said.

Other exterior improvements that ReNew funds will go toward include: replacing some sidewalks; repainting (church spire, for example); replacing stained glass protective coverings; enclosing the church main entrance and installing a heated ramp; and building a more functional and secure Doran Center entrance.

Funds will be held locally and designated for the building improvements, according Hergesheimer said.

Earlier in the presentation the Rev. Rod Ermatinger recalled the day of the fire. Twenty-two youths had received their first Holy Communion during a special Mass earlier that day, followed by a celebration with cake and coffee. He said there were a few miracles that likely prevented a worse blaze. Parishioner Bill Hensleigh happened to be praying in the sanctuary when he noticed the smoke. The fire was knocked down in roughly 30 minutes due to the quick response of firefighters from Kalispell, Evergreen, Smith Valley, West Valley and Whitefish, who sought alternative ways to clear the smoke rather than break the stained glass windows.

“When I got there I thought church was gone, but God had other plans,” Ermatinger said.

“So we’re here because of what happened on that day... ” he said, but also because of the plans early members made when they broke ground to build the current church in 1910, opening it in 1911. “... and all the time in between. And we’re here for what God wants to take place 20 years from now, 30 years from now. It’s called providence. So it’s a unique opportunity for all of us.”

Following an investigation, Kalispell Fire Department Chief Dave Dedman said the cause of the fire was debris that caught fire on the stove-top burner.

Monsignor Kevin O’Neill, a former St. Matthew’s Church pastor, encouraged the audience to share in contributing to the ReNew campaign — “[So] not one or a few carry the burden, but that all of us carry the opportunity to grow St. Matthew’s into the future as the generations before us have done so,” he said.

While change is difficult to some, O’Neill reflected on how the church has changed over the decades, dating back to a fire that also broke out in the basement in 1938, causing damage throughout the building including ornately carved wooden altars.

“And when the church opened it was still beautiful, but it was different,” O’Neill said. “The great ‘high altar’ and the side altars were changed and people’s comments were, ‘it was still home — but,’” O’Neill recalled. “Then that became the only home that the next generation and the next generation and the next generation knew until the great reforms of the liturgy in the late 1960s and early ’70s when once again the interior changed.”

Once construction is completed, it may take getting used to, but will eventually become “home” again, O’Neill said.

The ultimate goal is to be back in the church by spring if everything goes as planned.

“He [God] is always seeking to renew us and that’s why we called this campaign ‘ReNew,’” Ermatinger said. “It’s a renewal of our own dedication to our faith, to our Lord, to one another, to our community, to St. Matthew’s and this new chapter that God has planned for.”

Donations may be made online at stmatthewskalispell.org. People may also pick up donation cards at the church or St. Matthew’s School located on South Main Street, which may be filled out and mailed to: St. Matthew’s Church, P.O. Box 8862, Kalispell, MT, 59901. For more information call 406-752-6788.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.