Razing and Raising the Roof!

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Visitors to St. Joseph Monastery these days are greeted with trucks, cranes, scaffolding, and piles of tiles! “What is afoot?” they might ask, and the answer might come as a surprise:

Cherish the Flame!

Yes, you read it right! Cherish the flame of our Passionist life and charism. It is a theme of renewal in our community which began in the summer of 2019 and has continued to gain momentum and meaning for us ever since. As the Lord has led us in this process, it quickly became clear that He desired to renew our monastery buildings right along with our monastic community! Discussion, discernment, and prayer gradually presented to us a construction and renovation project that none of us saw coming two years ago. Now, about a year into the planning and fundraising, we are excited to share about it on the blog.

Cherish the Flame! In this grace-filled Passionist Jubilee Year, we are seeking to nurture our Passionist monastic life so that the current and future generations of nuns will continue to flourish here at St. Joseph Monastery. The time is right to renovate and build in order to provide necessary spaces for our monastic life that were omitted or compromised in our initial construction 25 years ago: Chapter Room, Refectory, Community Room, Fitness Room, and covered outdoor spaces in the cloister. You can read more about the whole project at our project webpage!

Cherish the Flame! But what does that have to do with cranes and roof tiles??? Well, one of our most urgent needs is to replace our current roof. After many setbacks and delays, and thanks to the generosity of the many who have helped our building campaign so far, the tiles are FINALLY starting to grace the first sections of roof. Check out the photos of progress!

January 4, 2021 - We’ve never been so glad to see a roof project begin…

January 5 - Ripping off the old underlayment and applying new and thicker wood decking…

January 11 - Goodbye, concrete tiles! St. Joseph, pray for us!

January 13 - All the tiles are off the retreat house, and the new ice and water shield underlayment is starting to be applied.

January 14 - Flashing in the valleys…

January 14 - Hurray for our Helming Brothers roofing crew!

January 14 - Soon, this whole roof will be red clay tile!

January 21 - Concrete tiles starting to come off the chapel…

March 4 - The new clay tiles are lined up and ready for installation!

March 4 - an elevator to get the tiles on that roof!

March 4 - So many tiny piles of clay…

March 4 - Smile — we’re finally installing the new roof!

March 4 - almost finished removing tiles on the chapel clear-story in preparation for custom tile measurements.

March 5 - The chapel roof is tucked in and waterproofed to await its turn for new tiles.

March 5 - It’s starting to look like a roof again!!!!

March 5 - Ludowici Spanish 18” clay tiles: blended, stacked, and ready to go!

March 5 - A closeup of the Spanish tiles on the retreat house.

March 6 - make sure those lines are straight and those headlaps are even!

March 6 - if YOU had a giant crane at your disposal, wouldn’t YOU ride it up as high as you could, too?

March 24 - retreat house roof is almost complete, and the red fascia is installed

March 24 - the nuns are helping by blending the tiles onto pallets, so the roofers can stay on the roof!

March 30 - progress from the lift view: the valleys on the retreat house are slowly getting filled in!

March 30 - each tile along the valley needs to be measured and cut to fit

March 30 - a beautiful new roof, with piles of roof tiles in the background, waiting to be blended by nuns and volunteers

March 30 - See the difference: new clay tiles in foreground, old concrete tiles in background!

March 30 - Helming’s crew hard at work…

March 30 - Shape up! The Mother Superior is making a site visit!

April 13 - The retreat house roof is finished!

April 13 - more tiles being removed and new decking applied to our chapel

April 22 - work on the chapel roof is progressing

April 27 - this week’s project is the highest peak

April 27 - roofers already up and at it at sunrise!

May 3 - Where is the water coming in????? [we did find our answer eventually]

May 6 - working on chapel roof section #6

May 13 - only two sections of old tile left on the chapel!

May 15 - completing the demolition of our chapel roof!

May 26 - loading tiles onto the last chapel roof section!

June 4 - only the details on chapel remain to be done. Doesn't it look great?

June 9 - work has begun on our work wing roof

June 17 - the crew has entered the cloister courtyard as they round the corner on our work wing

June 18 - new 3/4 inch plywood decking going up...

June 22 - the door to the dump truck was left ajar after hours, and the nuns couldn't help themselves; they had to install a driver to greet the crew in the morning!

mid July - the work wing nears completion

mid July - the crew has rounded the corner and passed the bell tower!

mid July - the final sections of the roof are in sight!

July 22 - demolition of the final roof section, our dormitory wing, has begun!

July 22 - underlayment applied and awaiting the tiles!

July 22 - look at that chapel roof!

August 5 - Mother John Mary and Sr Frances Marie get in on the action on the front roof of the monastery

August 5 - Sr Mary Veronica perches on the bell tower!

August 5 - the view is great from the belltower!

August 5 - it’s really starting to look like a clay tile roof

August 5 - Helming’s crew hard at work

August 15 - the last shipment of roof tiles has arrived!

an August Friday - late nite tile blending

August 18 - hoisting a new gutter to the roof of the cell wing

September 1 - Marathon Tile Day: beginning to lift tiles onto the final two sections of roof

September 1 - Marathon Tile Day: Our heroic crew lifted and distributed 80,000 lbs of clay tile onto the roof in one day, to save us money on the telescoping forklift rental!

September 7 - a few days later, all those tiles are being laid and fastened… the end is in sight!

late September - racing to secure the bell tower flashing against a Kentucky thunderstorm

early October - almost done!

October 11 - beginning the overhaul of our Retreat House stairwell roof

March 10, 2022 - Completed at last!!

March 10 - A view of the completed eastern-side roofs

March 10 - The completed work wing roof, with Retreat House and chapel visible in background

March 10 - Doesn't that new roof look lovely next to the shining blue lake?

March 10 - A panorama view of the entire completed roof, seen from the cloister side

March 10 - Joe Helming gifted us with a beautiful high-polish stainless steel cross for our bell tower!

March 10 - The new small cross is a scale model of the large chapel cross

March 10 - a blessing ceremony for the new cross

March 10 - Father Lou, Oblate Mike, and Joe Helming, ready to start the blessing!

March 10 - A confirmation from Heaven ... as soon as the cross was blessed, the sun came out from behind a cloud!

March 10 - THANK YOU to all of our benefactors, friends, and hardworking Helmings crew -- we could not have done it without you!!

Would you like to find out how you can be involved in our Cherish the Flame building campaign? Just click the button below!