The following comes from a June 5 story in Catholic San Francisco.
The tower at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Belmont was condemned and razed in an unexpected series of events sparked when the pastor noted what appeared to be dry rot near the base.
It turned out the 60-foot tower, built in 1958, was corroded by a combination of dry rot and termites, necessitating emergency demolition June 1, the day after the tower was condemned.
Father Steve Howell, pastor, said he “saw some dark marks around the bottom part of the tower” and decided to go through the tower and check it. He called in archdiocesan director of construction Steve Kalpakoff, who recommended city inspection. The city said the tower could fall over at any time, Father Howell said….
The finding came on the Friday morning of eighth grade graduation, planned for the church. Cooperation by all successfully set up the Mass and graduation at the school gym the night of May 31. On June 1, Bach Construction demolished the tower, cutting it into four big pieces and removing them one at a time by crane, Kalpakoff said.
To read the original story, click here.
Obviously, a case of vicious, modernist, anti-Catholic termites!!!
It is wonderful that the pastor caught it in time so no one was hurt. Trees need to be checked ever so often for rot, too, as a toddler was killed about two or three years ago when an old tree fell on the automobile where he was sitting in a driveway as the parents were exiting the car.
“Father Steve Howell, pastor, said he “saw some dark marks around the bottom part of the tower” and decided to go through the tower and check it”! He decided to go through the tower and check it, that took a good deal of courage. It could have collapsed around him taking him with it!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Hate to say this, but the tower is not the only thing rotting in the parish. It takes the prize for being the biggest Kumbayah church on the Peninsula . They have more or less stripped this place. Liturgy there is a show, not a religious experience.