Update: Holy Name Cathedral rebuilding

Parishioners squeezed into Holy Name Cathedral's makeshift worship facilities for Palm Sunday services this weekend.  It was standing room only as the people in the crowd fidgeted with their palms and wondered when they might go back to their beloved cathedral.

More details were published in the Sunday bulletin.  Some of it hopeful.  Here are the highlights:

• Holy Name officials are still hoping to reopen the cathedral in August.  That's just a hope, though -- no firm date has been set.
• Six roof trusses were damaged by the February 4th fire.
• Each of the ceiling's 23,000 pieces will have to be removed, cleaned, and examined to see which ones, if any, have to be replaced.
• There are three large holes in the roof, plus a number of smaller holes.
• The entire roof will be replaced.
• All of the prayer books have to be replaced.
• The pews have to be removed and refinished.
• The inside of the cathedral will have to be completely repainted. 
• The paneling in the cathedral basement will have to be repaired or replaced because of water damage.
• The fund raising event we mentioned a few weeks ago at the Palmer House Hilton appears to have been huge.  It sold out.  There were over a thousand guests.  An official tally of the amount of money raised hasn't been released, but tickets to the event were $100 each, so it makes sense that the event should have raised at least $100,000.
• Not including the Palmer House event, so far $104,007 has been donated to help fix the roof.

While the work is being done on the roof and cathedral interior, Holy Name is taking the opportunity to repair its west-facing rose window, which needed some work anyway.