By A.M. Kelley
Superior Catholic Herald
Phelps parishioners pitch in to renovate church
SUPERIOR -- The parishioners of St. Mary in Phelps expanded and renovated their church this year. The small congregation of mostly retired people paid the contractors without a capital fundraising campaign and without going into debt. They rolled up their sleeves and did a lot of the work themselves. They have so much to be proud of that Deacon Norm Mesun, the chairman of the building committee, can't help but crow a little.
"We think we're going to have the prettiest little church in the diocese," he said.
The congregation of only 120 families is tucked away in Vilas County in the easternmost corner of the diocese and just a stone's throw from the border of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
Phelps claims about 1,100 permanent residents, Mesun said, but during the summer those numbers are as much as eight times greater as vacationers flock to the area's recreational lakes and woods.
"We have an obligation to the church community and to God to provide the best and most meaningful worship experience," Mesun said. "That's the reason we (renovated). Not because we want to have a flashy church."
Parishioners began talks about its aging building in 2005. At the time the church consisted of one big room. Parish director Pat Pintens said this was inconvenient.
There was no room for people to prepare for weddings, she said, and no private place for families during funerals. Kids used to meet in the kitchen, hallway and entryway for religious education classes and two events never could take place at the same time.
Phelps' first church was built in 1907 and the present structure went up in 1971, when there were only 30 families in the parish. An update was overdue.
Mike Kilinski of Urban Construction Co. of Wausau, Wis. was hired to take on the project.
"The inside was completely, 100 percent, gutted out," he said. "Only the shell was left standing."
The substructure, all walls, electrical and heating elements were removed. The finished structure got a new roof and then exterior sidewalks were laid.
"(The job) required an extreme amount of coordination between companies (hired by Urban to do work) and parishioners," Kilinski said.
And all those volunteer laborers were assets, not nuisances.
"I appreciated working with the parishioners," he said.
Pintens said the project has been "a wonderful community builder" and Mesun, with 37 years in the construction business, was a valuable in-house resource and a good judge of how much of the work parishioners could do themselves.
The volunteers, including lunch cooks, often came together on Saturdays, to tackle tasks on what came to be called, "Norm's list." The work began in November with the demolition of the interior and the salvaging of materials by parishioners.
These items included ceiling tiles, insulation and paneling. They were reused (not by the contractor) but by the work of the amateur volunteers who renovated the existing bathrooms, kitchen and storage areas themselves.
"We were trying to be stewards of what we were given," Mesun said.
Both Mesun and Pintens praised the parish business managers of past years. Funds for this construction project didn't have to be raised because "through good stewardship and an active stock market over the last 10-15 years, the parish was day-to-day solvent," Mesun said.
While paying the $575,000 tab for the work on the church, parishioners, at the same time, continued to reach out to a sister parish in Haiti.
"We give away thousands of dollars a year," Mesun said.
St. Mary's membership numbers are another source of pride for parishioners. In a time of shrinking enrollments and the closing of parishes in many other small northern Wisconsin communities, St. Mary is not only holding its own but is adding members.
"We're growing slightly," Pintens said. "It's not dramatic, but we are growing."
The new facility went into service on April 1 and the dedication took place on April 6. The worship area previously seated 150 with a curtained-off overflow area for another 100. The new capacity is 216 plus a glass-enclosed overflow room for 100. As well as a new sacristy and expanded worship area, three multipurpose rooms greeted the congregation. Handicap bathrooms were also in service.
Three existing stained glass windows (of the Annunciation, Nativity of Our Lord and the Coronation of Mary) were moved from an exterior wall to an inside location forming a circular niche around a statue of Mary, which was restored by a Milwaukee firm.
Two additional windows were commissioned and made by Reinarts Stained Glass Studios of Winona, Minn., depicting the Visitation and Presentation.
Fr. Bob Koszarek of Eagle River is St. Mary's supervising pastor and expressed his admiration for what the small parish accomplished.
"As their sacramental minister and the neighboring pastor, I've mostly been an enthusiastic observer," he said in an e-mail to the Catholic Herald. "This community is energetic and self-driven; they exhibit a 'can-do' attitude."
During construction the Phelps Public School opened it facilities to the parish so Koszarek could celebrate Sunday Masses there. It was just one more indication of the area's close bonds.
"It's the kind of community where you can do those kinds of things," Pintens said.
© Superior Catholic Herald, 2008