Fundraising continued under the Vision to Grow program. The original thoughts for these funds were to expand the church on the west side, and to build a connected, remodeled parish hall. As the years passed, rising construction costs far exceeded income for the projects. It was decided to concentrate on remodeling and expanding the existing parish hall. It had been decided by the building committee to name the hall after Father Cletus Kirkpatrick, a former assistant parish priest who also spent many years as the Nyssa pastor and as the Chaplain at Holy Rosary Hospital. Father Kirk, as he was affectionately known, was very popular in the greater community among Catholics and non-Catholics alike. He passed away in February of 2005. In 2008, the plans for the parish hall project were finalized, and in 2009, the construction was completed. The dedication was held in September of 2009. One interesting note concerns the bell in the Kirkpatrick Center bell tower. It was obtained from a Baker City couple through the efforts of Father Rob Erwin, pastor of Blessed Sacrament. The bell had been removed from the Catholic Church at Mission, near Pendleton, and had lain in a field near the church for some time. The Baker residents asked the Mission parish priest for permission to “rescue” the bell and restore it for future use somewhere in the diocese. Father Erwin had served in Baker City, knew of the bell’s existence, and asked the couple if they would be willing to donate it to the Kirkpatrick Center project. They were amenable to doing so. It was not until a later date that it was discovered the bell had been in service at the Mission church when Father Kirkpatrick had been the pastor there in the 1960’s.
.
Now that the parish hall project had been completed, attention turned to renovation of the parish residence and the church itself. In early 2012, The Vision to Grow program was renamed The New Vision to Grow, and efforts were made to develop a plan for the rectory and church renovation along with a program to present the projects to the parish community for suggestions and approval. A generous donation from the estate of parishioner Betty Marquina helped to kick off the church interior work. During the initial work on the altar flooring and church walls in preparation for new pews, it was discovered that the roof beams had shifted, causing the church walls to bow. This event had occurred mainly because of a huge snow load during a recent winter. The roof shingles had to be replaced as part of the work to shore up the interior attic beams. Luckily, the parish insurance policy covered most of the repairs. The church interior work continued in earnest following the roof and beam repairs. Painting and refinishing the wood trim in the entire church was completed along with the wiring and lighting. The original altar was refinished and new altar furniture was purchased. New carpeting was installed after the removal of the original pews from the church. New pews were obtained from the Marshall Company of Payette, the same manufacturers who constructed and installed the pews for the new church in 1950. The salvaged pews were sold to individual parishioners, many of whom refinished/resized the pews to integrate into their homes.
.
In early 2012, work also began on the priests’ residence. New wiring and plumbing was installed in the rectory. The building interior was painted and new wood trim installed. The entire rectory was
.
.
Parish History
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
..
.
.
.
.
.
.
..
.
7
... Continued to page 8 ...