MOSAIC, Fall 2009

 

Readers of the summer Mosaic will recall the dangerous fire that broke out in the chapel attic as midnight approached on February 12, during all-night Eucharistic adoration. Only through God's watchful kindness was a greater tragedy avoided—but the damage was devastating nonetheless.

 

Flames burned through the plaster ceiling. Falling embers scorched the pews below. Smoke poured out from the attic, despoiling every inch of the chapel: the brick walls, sandstone arches and window surrounds, statuary, stained glass windows, Stations of the Cross and the 522 stenciled, multi-colored canvas ceiling panels, along with
the panel frames of carved oak. Thousands of gallons of water from the fire hoses extinguished the spreading fire, but also waterlogged the pews and oak flooring.

 

While surveying the chaotic aftermath the next day, Fr. Robert Spezia, moderator of the liturgy and custodian of the chapel, summed up the emotions of the entire seminary when he said simply, "I was grieving."

 

 

But the grieving was short lived, replaced by unruffled resolve. Immediately, Msgr. Jeffrey Monforton, Sacred Heart's rector, organized a recovery team, led by Father Spezia and Building Administrator John Duncan.

 

Yes, insurance money would cover repairing the localized damage and return the chapel to its pre-fire condition. But badly needed maintenance to the chapel's roofs, gutters and exterior had been postponed for years because of a lack of funding. Consequently, water has been leeching into the chapel interior, damaging the walls, window surrounds and tracery, and discoloring and damaging the ceiling panels.

 

"We had been putting 'band-aids' on things as money would allow," says team member and plant director, Deacon Lazarus Der-Ghazarian. There were aesthetic issues, as well. The interior of the chapel had not been cleaned for decades, testified particularly by the deadening grey dirt that covered the once-luminous sandstone.

 

"It comes down to this—this a house of God," says Father Spezia. "The chapel deserves our utmost respect." The expression, "Out of great misfortune comes great opportunity," thereby became the team's guiding recommendation. Monsignor Monforton agreed—could not the tragedy of the fire be a providentially-intentioned rallying point for progress?

 

With the approval of Archbishop Allen Vigneron, he decided to seize the moment and authorize a comprehensive rehabilitation and restoration of the entire chapel, exterior and interior.

 

"It made no sense to repair the inside of the chapel but not the outside, which was the cause of so much trouble," says Deacon Der-Ghazarian. "We thought, 'Why on earth would we not do this now? And wouldn't it be smarter, and cheaper, to do this as an entire package?'"

 

Monsignor stepped out in faith financially, too, trusting that additional funding—beyond the insurance claim and general archdiocesan maintenance support—would somehow come.

 

 

Father Spezia and Mr. Duncan immediately sprang into action like a steely-eyed tag team facing an imposing opponent. Assisted by Frank McDonell, archdiocesan buildings director, they researched suppliers, contractors and preservation specialists, requested bids and chose the most competent companies to tackle the multi-faceted and complicated project. They hired Bedzyk Brothers of Livonia to do the overall construction management of the trade groups.

 

Mr. Duncan, as an employee of the archdiocese, coordinated
most of the contracting of exterior work, since the archdiocese is
responsible for the upkeep of the seminary complex. Just a few
weeks after the fire, work crews began erecting a latticework of
ladders, scaffolding and hydraulic lifts around the outer walls.

 

CASS, a custom architectural sheet metal specialist out of Detroit, inspected the thousands of slate tiles on the chapel's roofs, replacing them where needed and repairing leakage areas. "They found one hole you could put your head into," says Father Spezia incredulously. CASS relined and shielded many of the original copper gutters that had split and corroded since the chapel's completion in 1924, causing serious water seepage. Rooter M.D. Plumbing in Livonia did the specialized work of repairing and re-lining the roof drains located in the interior walls.

 

Grunwell-Cashero, another Detroit company, performed the labor-intensive task of grinding out, re-pointing and caulking the mortar between the tens of thousands of exterior bricks and sandstone caps. Cracked mortar, caused by Michigan's freeze-thaw climate, had been another source of water damage. They cleaned the brick and applied a waterrepellant sealant to protect further the chapel interior.

 

 

The interior rehabilitation and restoration was just as complicated,
if not more delicate. Father Spezia was the point person for this phase. He roamed the chapel throughout the day between his other seminary duties, touching base continually with David Perales, Bedzyk's on-site supervisor, inspecting with a fine eye the work of the many tradesmen and artisans.

 

No work could begin until Audia Woodworking removed all of the solid oak pews from the nave, supported by muscle from the seminary's own maintenance crew—Milt Burrell, James Hardwick, Shawn Gavin and Andre Robinson. Audia transported the pews to their studio in Fraser to be repaired, hand-sanded and re-finished. Many seat supports had come loose or were broken, with some seats held together crudely by spikes.

 

"The pews were in rough shape," says Father Spezia. "Now they will be stronger than when they were brand new." Audia also reupholstered the kneelers, a need that was long overdue.

 

Out went the pews and in came masonry cleaning crew, supervised by Soil and Materials Engineers of Plymouth. SME tested different cleaning methods to prevent over-abrasion to the porous brick and sandstone. They chose a pressure blasting approach using tiny sponge pellets treated with aluminum oxide that encapsulated the dirt and then dropped to the floor to be shoveled away.

 

All was clear now for perhaps the most amazing aspect of the restoration project: the erection of scaffolding by Patent Construction Systems out of Taylor. Its crews used their pulleys, hooks, chains and ropes for six days straight, sixteen hours per day, to install 60,000 pieces of scaffolding—two and one half football fields worth in length—whose weight totaled 68,000 pounds.

 

The gleaming web of steel scaffolding crawled up the walls and filled the interior of the chapel. Atop the scaffolding suspended thirty-two feet in the air rested a platform that traversed the chapel's entire length. The platform allowed restoration workers to access safely the ceiling panels and upper reaches of the windows and organ pipes to perform their painstaking duties. Masons repaired mortar joints around windows "that you could see daylight through," says Father Spezia.

 

"Everything was mapped out," says Deacon Der-Ghazarian of Patent's meticulous work. "It was highly professional."

 

 

Thompson Art Glass of Brighton is another highly skilled restoration company that became part of this great effort to honor God's house. They thoroughly washed the interior and exterior of the fifty-one stained glass windows using a special pH neutral cleaning agent that protected the glass and restored its brilliance. They took the opportunity to repair damaged glass at the same time.

 

Kenneth B. Katz of Conservation and Museum Service in Detroit, and an expert on artistic conservation, supervised the restoration of the oil painted canvas ceiling panels. He brought in teams of skilled artisans to cut stencils, repaint or touch-up the delicate fleur-de-lis and crossand-circle symbols (five designs in all), and remove the smoke and decades of dirt from all 522 panels. Canvas used for repairs was chemically treated to match the antique patina of the older canvas. Every panel received a polymer coating, used to protect museum paintings, to allow a quick washing with no damage.

 

"One of the things we insisted on wherever we could was to do things that are reversible. For instance, the polymer coating, if it ever needed to be taken off, can be," says Father Spezia. "At the same time, in forty years if someone wanted to clean them again, they'll just need a rag and distilled water."

 

Conservators from Michigan Antiques Preservation Company in Wyandotte—Colleen Hilditch and Bill Witkowski, the owner—climbed the scaffolding ladders and perched themselves high against the clerestory walls like birds on a wire for a week. With care and precision, they mended cracks in, cleaned and waxed the exquisitely carved, three-quarters-relief Stations of the Cross panels.

 

 

From March until mid-October (at the time of this writing), from early morning until late afternoon, masons and electricians, roofers and fine art restorers have been swarming around the chapel, inside and out, like bees around a monumental hive. "We have literally gone through every square foot of the chapel, inside and out," says Father Spezia, now that the project is almost completed. "We have touched every foot with our eyes or our fingers, from top to bottom."

 

Father's influence, suggests Sr. Mary Finn, undergraduate pastoral formation director, extends beyond simply overseeing the technical aspects of the project. "He's befriended all of the workers. In a sense, he's been a 'pastor' of the craftsmen and women in the restoration of our 'temple' just by his calm presence," she says. "I know he has been praying for them, praying over them." The safety of the workers was prayed for, too, during daily Mass.

 

Kristina Nayorchak, a painting specialist with UVM Luxury Paints in Livonia, acknowledges Father's collaborative presence. "Yes, Father Spezia has been very good, very good to work with. We're on the same side—he and we want the chapel to turn out great—so we are doing everything we can to help him get there.

 

"I believe being a part of this process has made me stronger in a way. This is a spiritual environment which is amazing, which makes the job even more worthy."

 

In turn, almost all of the workers respected the religious and educational environment in which they worked. "The sensitivity to daily seminary life by the workers was very much appreciated by the seminary community," says Monsignor Monforton. This allowed "our focus on forming future pastors and lay leaders to remain unimpeded by the construction progress."

 

Another benefit to Monsignor Monforton's leap of faith—local men and women have been put to work in our depressed economy.

 

"People are hurting. I know this project is something the construction workers appreciate," says Deacon Der-Ghazarian, who himself holds a steamfitter's union card. During the past six months, close to one hundred workers have contributed their talents toward the restoration project. "People are paying taxes on that money, they are buying groceries. It is going right back into the economy."

 

 

Now that the scaffolding has come down and the sight lines are restored, how does the chapel look?

 

"I'm very pleased with the progress to date," says Mr. Duncan, who describes the six-month process as "arduous, but well worth the effort."

 

"The brick work, the stone work, the ceiling panels, the windows—I think they have been brought back very close to the original luster of 1924." He is pleased particularly with the work of Ken Katz and his conservators, who Mr. Duncan says took a personal interest in their work beyond what was originally quoted. "They touched up and repaired some panels, work that was not required, to meet their high standards."

 

He is also confident the exterior of the chapel is now a "watertight situation."

 

"The roofing and gutter work should serve us well for the next forty to fifty years."

 

Work continues at this writing shoring up the ridge lines of the chapel roofs and other final repairs. By November,  Crook Electric out of Farmington Hills will have completed the interior installation of environmentally sensitive track and ceiling lighting, including sixteen pillar sconces to replicate the Gothic architecture. The lighting will enliven the renewed brilliance of the walls, windows and woodwork, while enhancing the chapel's many liturgical activities. Soon, Audia will reinstall the pews; for now chairs have been placed in the nave so liturgical services can be resumed.

 

"I am proud of the projects that have been completed," says Monsignor Monforton, "and look forward to seeing the final results."

 

 

Many people within and outside the seminary have been intimately involved—hands, minds and hearts—in the great effort of the main chapel restoration. Perhaps the attitude of all is captured by Deacon Der-Ghazarian.

 

"In the eye of the storm, it sometimes seemed a little overwhelming. Yet, it's humbling to think that one day I'll look back and be able to think, 'I was a part of that.' Something that is going to last, something permanent.

 

"And knowing that seminarians for years to come will be formed and worship God in this beautiful chapel. By getting it restored, you are helping them on their way."