Quoting scripture from the first book of the Old Testament, Genesis 1:3 states: Then God said “Let there be light,” and there was light. I figured this would be a great segway into a very exciting announcement regarding the lighting in our church. After long last, we are finally moving ahead with the lighting project in the church. Thanks to the generosity of several parishioners, we now have the funds available to proceed. I would like to especially recognize John and Maureen Wurtz for their financial sacrifice in getting us over the hump with regards to this project as they fully funded the remaining substantial shortfall. Jokingly, John mentioned that he was motivated due to the fact that he was unable to read his Missal during Mass.
Below is a brief history and recap of what we are planning for the lighting project. We eagerly anticipate work being completed in the month of September.
We have made great strides during the past several years to enhance the buildings and grounds here at St. John the Evangelist. The last remaining major project is the lighting in the church. I will begin with a little history: The church is now nearly 20 years old with the first Mass being celebrated on Christmas Eve in 1992. The original lighting is still in place and the problems are now mounting at an exponential rate. First and foremost, the original lighting was designed and installed for more of a residential application and certainly not a commercial application. In order to change any of the bulbs in the ceiling or on the clerestory windows, a lift must be rented and the front doors removed. This isn’t your basic scissor lift but instead a 45’ boom lift which will allow the operator to reach the 55’ ceiling. The lift must be carefully navigated down the center aisle as to not damage the pews. There is a clearance of ½ inch on either side. There is obviously very little room for error. Just to change the bulbs in the sanctuary, we spend several thousand dollars in lift rental, bulbs and labor. The bulbs in the sanctuary ceiling are a combination of metal halide and par lamp spotlights. The fixtures are controlled by an archaic Lutron dimmer pack system. Even after replacing all of the bulbs in the ceiling, many burn out in as little as six months after replacement. The lighting over the altar is mounted on a track system and consists of the same par lamp spotlights. We replaced every single light and a few of the fixtures following the renovation last September. As you can see, nearly all of these bulbs have burned out. Many burned out after only six months. The lighting over the altar is also controlled by the dimmer packs. The dimmer packs have reached the end of their useful life. We have replaced a few and the problems still persist. Due to the malfunction of the dimmer packs, much of the lighting has been rerouted, bypassing the dimmer packs. As for the rest of the church, the lighting is very poor at best. The Narthex is very gloomy and dark. The back wings are also very dark even after removing the old wood ceiling two years ago. The lectors and the celebrant often have a very difficult time reading the word of God from the Ambo. We have made numerous patches over the years, but the problem seems to worsen as time goes by.
We have now retained a commercial lighting professional to address our problems. They have come up with a solution which will illuminate the church while solving the problems of maintenance. With this new proposal, we will be able to lower the lights over the altar for easy access. We will replace the fixtures in the sanctuary ceiling to new energy efficient fixtures and bulbs with a life over ten times what is currently in place. We will also illuminate the Narthex and back wings by installing very tasteful chandeliers and adding ancillary fixtures. The entire system may be controlled by an Ipad from anywhere inside the church. There are 999 different scenes which may be programmed and accessed simply by the push of a button. The stage lighting proposed above the altar may be manipulated in a plethora of different variations, even including the addition of color. Imagine being able to flood the back walls of the Altar with green or purple to coincide with the particular color of the liturgical season. The technological advances made over the past 19 years with regards to lighting have been numerous. We would like to take advantage of these advances and install a new lighting system which will bring our church into the 21st century. I am aware that many of you have a difficult time reading your missal due to the abysmal lighting in the sanctuary. I apologize for the delay in addressing the lighting, however, we made a decision that temporary patches would no longer be acceptable. The church lighting needs a total overhaul and we are now off and running.
If you have visited the Wal-Mart around the corner recently, you may have seen the beautiful yellow flowering ground cover located in their parking lot. It is called “Dunes Sunflower”(see picture) and provides beautiful coverage for “dead” areas which normally go without landscaping or shrubs. This is a very hearty variety which blooms year round and requires very little water or maintenance. It is also fairly inexpensive. We will initially install the ground cover at the front of our site along 111th avenue to see how it does before proceeding throughout the campus. This should provide a beautiful splash of cover to our campus year round.
In His work together,
Scott Schlossberg, MBA
General Manager