By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
LIEBENTHAL — A crew from Roofmasters is working more than 150 feet in the air to repair the steeple on the 114-year-old St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Liebenthal.
Roofmasters Roofing and Sheet Metal workers have begun removing the copper from the steeple, which is 167 feet at the top of its highest cross. The company estimates the work will take about a month to complete.
St. Joseph’s was established by Volga Germans in 1876, and the current church building was was dedicated on May 28, 1905. Although the steeple has had repairs many times over the years, it has not had a major renovation for 55 years.
In March 2018, the steeple sustained significant storm damage, and the parish immediately began fundraising for a major overhaul.
In addition to water-damaged wood, the church was gutted by fire in 1917 and 1959. Some work will also likely need to be done to the steeple’s masonry.
The wood as well as the cooper covering will be replaced. The old copper that is being removed will be recycled.
There are four copper crosses on top of the tower that holds the church’s single steeple. Project foreman Andy Littrel will handcraft duplicate crosses to replace the originals that have been damaged by years of harsh Kansas weather.
The church is still fundraising for the steeple project. Insurance only paid $13,000 of the $80,000 needed for the copper work. The church was able to raise another $19,000 through donations, memorials and fundraisers.
The church continues to fundraise in hopes it will not have to dip into its savings to finish the project, Judy Hoffman, church secretary, said.
“I don’t know what we can do next because you fundraise your people to death,” she said.
The congregation is small, with only 50 registered individual parishioners and families. A typical Sunday Mass attracts 70 to 90 people, Hoffman said.
The parishioners had to dig deep into their pockets for the amount that has been raised thus far for the steeple renovations. This was on top of a costly renovation in 2014 during which the interior walls were restored and repainted. Leaks in the steeple have been dripping into the choir loft and damaging the latest interior renovation and paint.
Students from the Fort Hays State University Nursing Department threw a potluck fundraiser for the church’s steeple project last year, raising $200.
“That might not sound like a big deal, but to me, it was big. To us, it was big,” Hoffman said. “It was somebody outside the parish who cared enough to put some effort in to helping us fund this project. Those kinds of things are welcome if anyone wants to try that.”
St. Joseph’s has managed to stay open as many other small, rural Catholic churches have closed, including Loretta, Pfeifer and McCracken.
“Many of those people have come over to our church, and even if they haven’t registered, they are in the pew fairly often,” Hoffman said.
Hoffman attended St. Joseph Catholic Church in Hays as a child, but started attending the church in Liebenthal when she moved back to the area as an adult.
“Oh, I really love it there in Liebenthal a lot,” she said.
Anyone wishing to donate to the steeple project can do so directly through the church’s website. Go to rushcountycatholicchurches.com and click on the St. Joseph Parish Giving icon.