In the first few days after the COVID-19 pandemic was declared and he was sheltering in place, Father Leonard DePasquale enjoyed working a few jigsaw puzzles with his idle time. Then he got a better idea.
Long on his “to do list” at St. Bernardine Parish in San Bernardino, where he serves as Administrator, was fixing up the heavily scratched and gouged church pews. Public gathering restrictions meant that, save for a few weeks in June and July, no public Masses were being held in the church at St. Bernardine. What better time to take on this project?’
“I wanted to do it a while ago,” Fr. DePasquale said. “I call it my COVID-19 project.”
More than just light wear and tear, the pews were heavily damaged from what Fr. DePasquale suspects is children carving and scratching them with their parents’ keys during Mass.
He started the job in March, working a few hours each week, and finished just last month. It was a multi-step process: he filled the scratches, chips, and gouges, then he sanded and cleaned the repaired areas, stained them, applied two coats of varnish, and then buffed them.
“My Dad was a master of the [building] trades,” Fr. DePasquale recalls. “He taught me a few things.”
Fr. DePasquale kept the project to himself for months before updating parishioners about it in a short parish bulletin article in October.
“I hope everyone will keep an eye open and be careful so that we do not damage the fixtures of our beautiful Church,” he wrote. “I am happy to have spent a good deal of time doing this work as a service to our community and as an act of praise to our God who is loving and kind.”
Full story at Inland Catholic Byte.
“I hope everyone will keep an eye open and be careful so that we do not damage the fixtures of our beautiful Church,” he wrote.
Yeah, those parishioners sure are hard on those pews. But, he and his bishop won’t have to worry about them anymore.
Would love to have heard about what Father is doing to sustain the Faith of his parishioners rather than his wood working skills.
Keith, we have the right to criticize any evil done, but we also need to praise the good to encourage more of it, in ourselves and others. Remember “Idle hands are the Devil’s workshop”, and this priest could be doing far worse with his extra time as some have done.
Wow, Keith, he is the administrator and only priest in the parish. He is saving the parish money by doing that work himself and there is nothing wrong, in fact even something honorable, about doing good work with one’s hands (that’s one of the things many monks do). Unless you know otherwise, I’ll give this priest the benefit of the doubt, that he is trying during this very difficult time.
When was the last time you personally thanked or commended a priest for doing a good thing?
For your sake as well as yours parish’s, I hope it hasn’t been too long.
Keith, do you attend the TLM?
In my opinion, this Priest is using his skills and time to benefit the parish and for the greater glory of God.
Great idea, Fr. De Pasquale. I got some grouting done on my kitchen tile while hunkering down at home. I had the grout and got the grout sealer on line. Just a little more to do. Kitchen is old and will have to be remodeled later but some things can be repaired now and made to look newer.
The above poster from “Anne” was I — Anne TE. Share a computer sometimes, so I do not keep my name in poster box.
Wonderful, to see this good priest’s woodworking talents, put to good use, for the improvement of his parish church, for the glory of God! Maybe it will inspire his parishioners to contribute their talents to the parish, following his good example! Maybe the priest could teach his skills also, to interested parishioners, especially young men. St. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, was a carpenter in the village of Nazareth, and taught Jesus how to be a carpenter. Would love to see some of the work of this holy pair– Christ and St. Joseph. Wouldn’t that be just wonderful??
I am sure that the pews will be beautiful.
However, you will have no one to sit in them when the government closes all of the churches.
Oh, wait! They already did.
Good on that priest. That pew looks like it’s already finished, though, so what’s he working on in the pic?
Thank you, Father, for keeping the House of God in beautiful condition. It is respect & love for Our Father and His Son’s Church and the Sacrifice that takes place @every Mass!