More than 40 years after its last major overhaul, Our Lady of Malibu is undergoing a long overdue renovation project.
Leaders for the local Catholic church held a groundbreaking ceremony for the $1.3-million project on Friday, celebrating an endeavor they said will address countless needs.
“It’s been a long time coming and it’s going to be fun watching it develop,” said Peggy Thomas, OLM’s parish manager.
The church last underwent construction after a 1970 fire damaged the parish. Two new side wings were built and the church was completely renovated. But four decades have passed since then, and the windows, lighting, sound system, flooring, walls and building acoustics have deteriorated. Initially, though, church leaders had a simple goal in mind — installing a baptistry.
“This whole thing got started with a desire to put in a permanent baptismal font. We’re the only church in the archdiocese, probably the only church in the United Sates, that doesn’t have a permanent place for a baptism,” said Father Bill Kerze. “In the Catholic tradition, the two great sacraments are baptism and the sacrament of the eucharist. I always wanted to put in a baptistry, a permanent place for baptism, and never could quite figure out how to do it. So, we thought if we’re going to do that, then we might as well tackle the whole church.”
A fundraising campaign got underway in March, and Kerze said the church is about $100,000 shy of its $1.3 million goal — not bad for a four-month campaign.
“We have a lot of very, very generous parishioners, it’s just touched me very deeply how generous they’ve been. I’m confident we’re going to meet our goal, in fact exceed it,” Kerze said.
OLM was originally built in 1947 off of Winter Canyon Road. Six years later, fire struck the church for the first time.
“In 1954, they built a new church, which is basically the main part of this building. In the fire of [1970] the roof was burnt off of the church and the inside was severely damaged, so they used that as an opportunity to actually expand [since] the church the parish was growing,” Kerze recounted.
The latest renovation project has an extensive laundry list, including a kitchen expansion and the installation of ADA-compliant bathrooms in Monsignor Sheridan Hall, along with upgrades to technology in the church’s school.
“It’s making ourselves not only fit for present day education but also for the future,” Kerze said.
Carpet floors will be replaced with stone tiling, aging windows will be replaced with ones that keep more heat in during the winter and even the school’s Internet bandwidth will see major improvements.
“When the [2014 Winter] Olympics were in Sochi, the teachers couldn’t access it because there wasn’t enough bandwidth. God forbid they have to go back to using books!” Kerze joked.
As the project heads into full gear this summer, the church plans on holding its services in a temporary tent until renovations are completed toward the end of September.
