Update # 7
Our very dear Families and Friends,
Praised be Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary His Mother! It is certainly time to give to you, our families and friends, an up-date on our Choir renovations. First a little about Community events which have occupied much of our time. At the end of June, one of our Sisters had major surgery which necessitated more than two weeks in the hospital, followed by several weeks of rehab. Our dear Sister is home and recovering more of her strength and is with us in our daily Community life. Then in the days following the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, covid entered the Community – an unwelcome guest for sure! One Sister after another came down with the “pest”, all of us got it except for one Sister who never wore a mask! We had to discontinue our daily Mass in the cloister so as not to infect our Priests. We had live-stream Mass from St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City for about two weeks, and fortunately we had a sufficient number of consecrated Hosts in our Tabernacle so we could receive Holy Communion each day during the live-stream. God is so good to us! Thank God we have all recovered.
The Choir renovations are also progressing. As we mentioned in our last up-date in June, we were given the word that everything should be finished by the end of August. This did not happen. Though the delays are frustrating, no one is at fault. It is simply the back-log of work among the wood-working Company. More on this in a moment!
Before covid struck, the new flooring was put in place. Tim, from a professional flooring Company, did an absolutely great job with the layout of the vinyl tile which really looks like wood! Here are some photos of his work!
Then in the heat of August, two fine and talented young women from Swiatek Studios, completed the decorative (diaper) pattern in the arch at the front of the Choir. Shanel did the stencil and painting of the design on canvas in the Studio’s shop in Clarence, New York; and Marissa, who did the preparatory work of the details for the design and the measurements of the arch, came with Shanel to install the canvas. Here are some photos of their splendid work that turned out more beautifully than we could have imagined. This arch will certainly be a space of noble-beauty for the Presence of Our Lord Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament!
In recent weeks, Keidel’s Inc. took on the cleaning of the entire Chapel and Sanctuary, as well as some much-needed painting of the vestibule, priests’ entrance and a large area of the Chapel walls. They will also clean the Chapel floor once the temporary flooring is removed and the Choir. Keidel’s get “5 stars” from the nuns of Carmel for their wonderful work!
Our contractor, Kyle Marianacci has been a huge help in his plan to facilitate the progress of the wood work. As the wood shop has the sections of wood ready, Kyle and his team will finish the staining and installation here at the Monastery. His first objective is to get the wood work for the area around the grates installed as soon as possible, so the grates can then be put in place. Once the grates are in, the temporary flooring in the Chapel can be removed, the floor can be cleaned and we can re-open the Chapel for daily Mass! Of course, the work in the Choir will not be completed yet, but enough wood-work will be finished and the grates will be in place ensuring our enclosure, so that we can open the Chapel for Holy Mass with our dear friends. Though we cannot offer an exact date, we hope that this stage will be finished by the end of this month, if not sooner! We promise to keep you posted by up-dates and word-of-mouth!
Swiatek Studios will also be doing some further work on the Sanctuary wall that adjoins the Choir. But that will be for another up-date...
We are so deeply grateful to all of you for your patience, your interest, encouragement and generosity! We are always close to you in spirit and keep you and your dear families in our prayers each day.
With devoted love and gratitude
in Jesus and His Mother Mary,
Your Carmelite Sisters