BELLA VISTA — Monday morning at St. Bernard Church office in Bella Vista is a time to regroup after a busy weekend filled with Sunday Masses and parish activities. This summer, however, the people working in this office have much more on their minds now that a $1.1 million church renovation will begin this month.
The project, which should be completed between Thanksgiving and Christmas, is the biggest project since the church was built 17 years ago.
Pastor Father Andy Smith said, “A building this age needs renovations and touch-ups. Since I have been here, we have noticed the need for a new roof. There were water stains on some of the beams on the inside of the church. We knew we needed to do some kind of repair on the roof and the process expanded from there. And as we discovered, the church infrastructure needed reinforcement.”
A parish survey was taken in January 2007 and according to Fran Heinen, chairman of the building committee, there was positive support with a 90-percent approval for the renovation project.
“The only item on the survey rejected was the expansion of the church size,” he said.
Besides the construction aspects of the project, there is another element that makes the renovation timely. Several changes will address energy conservation.
The church currently uses sodium vapor lights that have been used in parking lots, shopping malls and airport terminals, architect Larry Troillett of Holiday Island said. The parish is switching to all compact fluorescent lighting, which will allow for color correction and eliminate any humming or flickering in the light fixtures.
The necessary bracing of the exterior wall and lowering the ceiling will decease the energy needed to heat and cool the church.
Heinen said, “There will be automatic setbacks on the thermostats so when the church is not in use, we will save energy. With our daily Mass in the chapel, there will be no need for heating and cooling in the large sanctuary. That is another savings.”
The new metal roof will be constructed of a long-lasting granular steel surface in a terra cotta color that resembles the popular California tile roofs. This roof will be placed on all the buildings — the parish hall, the church and the office building.
Part of the church’s interior design will include new carpet under the seating and the old carpet will be recycled along with the existing ceiling tiles. Longer lasting ceramic tiles in a neutral earth tone color will be used in some areas instead of carpet.
“The new beige color scheme inside the church will be more warm and welcoming, I believe,” Father Smith said. “The sanctuary is going to be ceramic tile and a darker blue carpet with an abstract cross pattern in it will be installed in the church. Along with the new carpeting, we will refurbish the seating of the pews and kneelers. The entrance of the church will be more acoustically quiet so the noise of people greeting each other — which we want to encourage — doesn’t carry into the church while people may be in there at prayer.”
Liturgically speaking, there will be two major changes in the church renovation — the relocation of the baptismal area and the redesign of the tabernacle wall.
“The existing baptismal font is now up at the altar area and the location will be changed to the entrance of the sanctuary in the center aisle area,” Troillett said. “This location is considered more liturgically correct according to Church doctrines. It provides a better interpretation of the liturgy — symbolizing a journey on the path to the altar.”
The tabernacle will be housed in a new chamber behind the altar with doors opening to the church and chapel where the tabernacle can be viewed from both sides.
“There has been a very positive response to this need. This building that we have now is typical of what we have to build anymore,” Father Smith said. “As Catholics whenever we have a large congregation we have to have a large building where as few Masses as possible will be necessary since the number of priests is decreasing constantly.”
Once a retirement haven, Bella Vista is becoming more populated with families with kids.
“There is a big change in the number of baptisms we are having — the number is up drastically. The number of kids in our religious ed is increasing each year almost 10 to 20 kids so if it keeps on doing that, it is going to be bringing quite a bit of change to the parish,” Father Smith said.
