The Grinch has hit our parish. A Christmas return from fire damage and repair was always up in the air anyway. We don’t have the final timeline with the subcontractors yet, but we’ve been told a March return is more likely than December. We can handle about two-hundred-plus in our lower lounge–nowhere near what we would draw in families at 4:45 on the 24th of December.

Above the nave is bedecked with scaffolding ten feet under the ceiling. Black plastic encloses the south balcony where asbestos abatement is proceeding. Workers are hard at it on weekdays. But its disheartening to see a place of worship empty of pews, instruments, and the spiritual life of people.

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