A Show of Hands

The hands are back on the clock.

Clock parts are on their way up

Our tower clock is being repaired. Many parts, gears and axles originally installed in the 1920s, have broken. Our athletic repair man is going to carry the new parts up 120 feet to the clock.

Here are some photos of the clock mechanism plus a few photos from the tower.

Like Clockwork

The 870 lb. crate of clock parts is open. Our installer from the Verdin Company is carrying each gear and axle to the Cathedral's central tower.

He removed one piece of glass from each clock face to give himself access to the hands. Much of the internal gears are being replaced.
There is a very good chance that all four clock faces will have their hands back in place by this weekend.

Update: more wood over the doors is refinished

The front facade of the Cathedral looks great today. The last of the trim over the three front doors is finished. The painting crews put white primer on the wood over the doors. Cathedral employee John Dzurilla used a faux finish technique to give them the appearance of stained wood.



Here is a closeup of the finished door that leads to the "Work Sacristy," also known as the former choir practice room.

Repainted door to Work Sacristy

John Dzurilla, master of the faux finish, practiced his craft on the exterior door leading to the Work Sacristy. [That is, the old choir room.]

He uses a technique of putting a yellow base coat on the wood. He then uses darker and darker colors to simulate stained wood.

Update: Gas line

An inspector gave us a passing grade on a safety check this morning. Everything is moving forward on schedule.

The workers from the company that laid the new pipe had to dig several large holes through the parking lot. They have filled the holes with gravel, covered the gravel with concrete, and have topped it with asphalt this afternoon.

Gas line installed; cleanup underway

Work went quickly today. The 4-inch flexible gas line is in place. The holes are filled with gravel. At some point the gravel will be covered with blacktop.

Repairs to the Gas Line

The natural gas line that leads to both the Cathedral, Rectory, and School is being replaced. The original line was probably installed in the 1950s when the campus buildings were converted from coal to gas.

The gas company's line runs north and south along Boulder Avenue. Holy Family taps into that line behind a meter on Boulder between the church and school.

The work should take several days.

Middle School carpet DONE! Plus, couches in the new Media Center.

The Middle School carpet is done.

The Middle School Computer Lab & Media Center welcomed three leather couches. Great things are happening at Holy Family Cathedral School.

Update: Middle School hallway carpet

The Middle School classrooms, now carpeted and trimmed, are full of the desks and chairs that lined the main hallway last week. The bulk of the carpet is laid but needs to be trimmed.

Update: Middle School carpet

The carpet installers have begun work in the Middle School classrooms.

HFCS Computer Lab changes

Old carpet continues to leave the school to be replaced with fresh carpet squares.

One of the first rooms with new carpet was the Computer Lab on the Middle School floor. Principal Jay Luetkemeyer and Computer teacher Beverly Harris have rearranged the floor plan. The previous layout was computer desks clustered in three islands in the middle of the room plus long rows of desks along the sides of the room.

The new room features the computer desks arranged in a large square at one end of the room. The advantage of this arrangement is that the teacher may move easily from student to student, answering their questions while the entire class can hear the answers. The new configuration makes the already big room feel much larger.

There are plans for the other end. Stay tuned to see what comes next.

First set of trim over doors is done

The amazing John Dzurilla finished the repairs and repainting of the wood trim over one set of doors on the front facade of the Cathedral.

Most of the wood is original to Holy Family. The century of rainy springs, hot summers and cold winters did quite a bit of damage to the trim. John fashioned replacement pieces from new wood, glued them in place, then applied a finish to the entire structure.

School gets new carpet

The hallways of Holy Family Cathedral School are full of chairs, desks, fans, and computer monitors. Teachers wind their way through narrow aisles of open floor to get to their rooms. Once they get to their rooms, they find them completely empty.

The School is getting new carpet in almost every room.

The old carpet served us well. It tolerated being stretched over and over. The photo below shows the ripples in the old carpet.


The new carpet comes in squares - each about two feet long on a side. It is glued to the floor like any wall to wall carpet. The advantage is that if one square is damaged - due to myriad spills - that square is replaced.

This photo shows a section of new carpet. It is a little thicker than the old one.

The funds for the carpet come from grants from several organizations. We are grateful to those groups and to our grant-writers.

Restoration of the Cathedral's Front Doors

The Restoration & Renovation of Holy Family is slowing down. Most of the original goals have been accomplished: reinforcing the structure, reroofing the spiries, repainting the interior.

Holy Family staff member John Dzurilla restained the three sets of front doors. He is currently putting a base coat on the carved wood above the doors.


Don't be alarmed. The yellow is a base coat.

Check back to see the progress.

Update: Water damage repairs

The painters have finished their repairs to the water-damaged sections of paint covering an arch in the apse of the Cathedral. It looks much better.

A crate of clock parts

This crate arrived this week. It holds 870 pounds of clock parts to be installed in the Cathedral's clock tower. Most of the parts are newly made replacements for worn parts.

Water damage forces repairs

In the past two years, rain water seeped through the arch in the apse of the Cathedral and damaged the gold paint. Although the new roof stopped the leaks, the damage is done. The gold paint on the underside of the arch has two major "bubbles." The damage is difficult to see from the pews [above], but it is quite visible from the other side [below].


We should see some scaffolding in the apse of the Cathedral by the end of this week. While it will take a large structure to reach the 76 foot ceiling, the scaffolding should not be as dominant as it was in 2008.

Front Doors: restained

Holy Family's own John Dzurilla sanded and refinished the three pairs of front doors of the Cathedral. These doors endure the punishing weather of eastern Oklahoma. The wind and rain of this time of year do them no good, but it is probably the accumulated snows of winter that do the most damage, especially at the bottom of the doors.


Below is what the doors looked like prior to the work.

(video) Renovation Update: April 2010

The bell rings again.

The 1910 Church Bell rings again

Everyone heard the sound of our church bell ringing on Easter. This bell was forged in 1910. Thanks to the generosity of some wonderful Cathedral parishioners, the bell is mounted on a new support structure.

There is a smaller hammer to ring the bell in place. There is also a chain drive to swing the bell back and forth so it can ring for as long as desired.

Monsignor Gier has a remote control so he can ring it any time he wants.