CONGREGATION TO CELEBRATE ALL SAINTS DAY IN NEWLY REBUILT CHURCH.Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Daily News Staff Writer Just moments after inspectors issued the final approval Thursday for the new St. Stephen's Episcopal Church St. Stephen's Episcopal Church can refer to:
Their enthusiasm is easily understood. The 36-year-old parish actually celebrated the opening of its new sanctuary 2-1/2 years ago, but just four months later church officials learned of severe structural deficiencies and the church was ordered closed. Now the church has been rebuilt, and the congregation is ready to celebrate. ``It's gorgeous. Everybody's so excited now,'' said Susan Bek, director of youth and children's ministries. ``It's a better building than it was. It has a more spiritual feeling to it now.'' At today's 10 a.m. service, celebrating All Saints All´ Saints` 1. The first day of November, called, also, Allhallows or Hallowmas; a feast day kept in honor of all the saints; also, the season of this festival. Day, the congregation will enter the church in a chorus of ``When the Saints Go Marching In "When the Saints Go Marching In", so well-known that it is often referred to merely as "The Saints", is a United States gospel hymn that has taken on certain aspects of folk music. .'' ``It is amazing a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. how our community has thrived in spite of the problems,'' Beck said. ``We were worried what would happen to the congregation, people had pledged money to the building fund and paid month after month for a new sanctuary. We worked very hard. It was very sad that that had to happen.'' Over several months, St. Stephen's reached a settlement with the original architect over the deficient plans. Steiner Construction was rehired to correct the problems, and the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles is a community of 85,000 Episcopalians in 147 congregations, 39 schools, and 18 major institutions, spanning all of Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties, and part of Riverside County. helped with the additional expenses. ``We considered taking it down, there were so many problems, bad problems,'' Bek said. ``It was a massive reconstruction program to make it strong enough. They added support beams, increased the steel. Normally you find something like this before it's built.'' And all the time the congregation grew stronger, church leaders said. Parishioners remained active in the church-inspired community programs including last winter's homeless shelter Homeless shelters are temporary residences for homeless people. Usually located in urban neighborhoods, they are similar to emergency shelters. The primary difference is that homeless shelters are usually open to anyone, without regard to the reason for need. , the Santa Clarita Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, Community Development Corp.'s plans for a day labor day labor n. Labor hired and paid by the day. day laborer n. hiring center and the Santa Clarita Interfaith Council. The church, which met in the '60s in members' homes, returned to the parish hall for services. And the roster grew to 239 active families. ``God had some kind of plan for us,'' Bek said. ``It's amazing things work out.'' CAPTION(S): 2 Photos PHOTO (1--Color) The rebuilt St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Valencia awaits the 239-family congregation's return. (2--Color) The Rev. Richard Belliss, left, and music director Eric Laurie look around St. Stephen's, rebuilt after the discovery of structural flaws. David R. Crane/Daily News |
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