Concert volunteers work to help repair church
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
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asking for anyone with musical skills to join them to help raise funds to restore the cracking murals in the historic Mission Catholic Church.
“You don’t have to be religious,” said Janis Cates, program producer.
Her goal is to bring people in the valley together for a musical concert to be presented on March 23, 24, and 25. Attendants are asked to donate to the mural revitalization project, if possible. Rehearsals start at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018 at the church, although people can still join if they miss the first meeting.
“My focus is for people of all faiths or no religion to see how we have much more in common than we have in differences,” she said. “This will be a wonderful musical experience.”
Cates said anyone is welcome to participate with the choir, play an instrument, or speak during the event if they attend the rehearsals.
“We still need more people, and we could really use more men,” she said.
She hopes that around 100 people volunteer to help develop a performance based on “The Lamb of God” music. Rita Tingey and Nancy Eastham are helping with the production. Sarah Murray is the director.
Father C. Hightower, S.J. signed on to take over the duties at the church after Father Andrew Maddock retired last summer. Hightower said a choir group used to have an annual fundraising event at the church, but they recently disbanded.
He explained that the church has several big murals in need of repair including the three located behind the altar, along with the murals on the St. Joseph side and the Mary side. Repairs are estimated to cost $100,000 each.
“We are about half-way there with fundraising, but we still have a lot of work to do,” he said.
The church was built in 1891 and stands as a historic building with the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, and it is also an active church as part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena.
“We will get some help from them,” he said of the Helena Diocese plans to contribute financially to the project.
The structural problem with the church started when the back wall settled down about an inch and caused the murals to crack. Father Hightower said the wall is now secure but the murals need repairs that need to be done in a specific way to preserve them for the future.
Two repair services with experience working on historical buildings have put bids in on the project. Father Hightower said repairs could start as early as late spring of 2018 if everything goes as planned.
Hightower said he moved to this area to run the church, work on fundraising projects, and help repair the church. He grew up in Washington and graduated from Seattle University with a Bachelor of Criminal Justice. His parents have ties to Montana, so he decided to settle in St. Ignatius in the fall of 2017 after serving as a Country Programme Officer in Erbil, Iraq for the Jesuit Refugee Service. It was his job in Iraq to coordinate the educational side of things in a refugee camp for thousands of children by making sure the teachers had what they needed.
“Education is freedom so you don’t want them to fall behind in school with things like math, science, and physics, so we worked to continue that education,” he said.
Hightower said members of ISIS blew up a sulfur mine in Iraq when he was working there, and the fumes made him sick, so he returned to the United States to recover. “Montana is a good place to come work, and I hope I can do some good,” he said.
He added that people should watch for the Mission’s new website going online in mid-January with church service times, fundraising information, and a virtual tour. Concert times for the new musical event will be posted along with other projects.
“Any help we can get with fundraising is appreciated,” he said.
