OMAHA, Neb. —Omaha’s oldest Catholic church has a growing wish list: Fix the cracks in the building, bring back the pipe organ, repair the sloping floors in the rectory, take over a nearby community center and make the 143-year-old bells in the bell tower ring again.
[Video: St. Frances Cabrini aims to bring music back to bell tower]
“The sound recalls that God is here. It says we’re here. You hear the bells ringing over the neighborhood,” said Father Damian Zuerlein.Since Zuerlein took over as pastor of St. Frances Cabrini in July, he’s carefully and patiently crafted his wish list for the building at 10th and William streets.“We’d really like to get the original bells ringing again. They’re up there and they’re gorgeous bells,” he said.The 1,800-pound bells were the first set of church bells cast for a Nebraska church. The building was Omaha’s original cathedral, St. Philomena’s. The bells haven’t tolled since the 1970s when they were replaced with a recorded sound system. That system wasn’t functioning either when Zuerlein arrived.
[See photos of the transformation]
For the past three decades, Zuerlein said birds took over the bell tower.“We thought we were going to have to enter from the outside because there was so much pigeon residue, pigeon manure,” said Zuerlein, laughing.Once the pigeon residue was scrubbed from the bells, Zuerlein could see the original inscribed Latin religious verses on the four bells.Workers have since cleaned the residue and made simple repairs, and tuckpointing is keeping the tower pigeon-free. The church now has an estimate from the original bell maker to get them working again. It’ll cost about $25,000. The church will also need engineers to tell them whether the bell tower is safe and sound before the bells make a sound.“They have an echo everywhere. It goes right to you,” said Helen Butera, a parish member who will be 99 years old next month.She lived in the neighborhood for most of her life and heard the bells chime twice a day.Betty Pistone called the church her “spiritual home” and said they’re an important part of church tradition for Catholics.“When they’re brought here for the last time, the funeral bells tolling, it’s kind of a farewell to them. It meant a lot,” said Pistone.
To learn more about the church and their fundraising campaign to restore the bells visit http://archomaha.org/parishes/find/st-frances-cabrini-parish-omaha/.
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