Sioux City Diocese Will Reopen Fire Damaged Church
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The Sioux City Diocese plans to reopen St. Joseph's Catholic Church.
The church was heavily damaged in a July fire. A new roof was put on to protect the 117 year old building from the elements, but it's future remained up in the air.
Friday afternoon, church leaders announced that repairs will begin on January 4th and the church should reopen in the fall.
UPDATE
Hundreds of Siouxland families got the news they've been hoping for. St. Joseph Catholic Church will be rebuilt.
Parishioners knew the decision could go either way, their church would close and the parish would combine with St. Boniface or they would return home. Friday they said God was hearing their prayers.
The mood was somber as parishioners filed into St. Boniface for the private announcement of the diocese's decision, but the elation was hard to hide as they made their way out.
"Oh my God, it's wonderful. This is the best Christmas gift we could ever imagine getting. We are so happy. It's been a long time waiting for this news and we are just thrilled to death," said parishioner Mary-Ann Miller.
The congregation was crushed in July as they watched their church go up in flames, after contractors accidentally started a fire, but this announcement got them fired up in a different way.
"Find me a parishioner that didn't want that church to be opened," said Father Mike Erpelding, Pastor of St. Joseph's. "It was an incredible experience to have them happy and joyous and it looked like a tent revival when they hear the announcement."
"[They] stood up and clapped and yelled and everything," laughed Miller.
The Sioux City Diocese decided that the parish was viable on its own, and would not be combined with St. Boniface. For those who grew up in St. Joseph's, it was an prayer answered.
"I buried my father at that church last January, and at the time I thought 'someday I'll be buried there.' Well, for a while I thought that probably wasn't going to happen, but now I suspect that it will. I will be in that parish until I die," said parishioner Burnita Ankerstjerav.
[I'm] just really happy. There are a lot of people that depend on the church," said another parishioner Gary Dickman.
Now an unsure future has turned into hope and excitement. With construction scheduled to start in a couple weeks, parishioners now have a homecoming to look forward to in October.
"I compared it to a family home being burned down and this is like their house of worship being burned down and it's just really hard to be dislocated, to feel the grief and the pain and the sorrow of separation and have to make due and to know that they can come back home is a great gift," said Bishop R. Walker Nickless of the Sioux City Diocese.
"It's home. We want to get back home," said parishioner Dolly Levich.
The cost of restoring the roof of the church was $1 million. The restoration of the inside will cost $2 million. Luckily that will all be covered by insurance.
Thanks to some generous donations from parishioners the new church will also feature some new updates, including a modern elevator.
