During Easter season, Catholics and other Christians are reminded of the challenge of their faith, as they celebrate the resurrection of the crucified Jesus, their Savior.

For parishioners of St. Mark’s Catholic Church in Shakopee, that faith challenge was extended for the past two years as their church building underwent renovation, the result of a devastating $4 million fire that badly damaged the interior of the structure.

But parishioners’ faith has paid off, as a project estimated to take 24 months to complete will be done in 17 months, and the refurbished church is ready to be used again.

On Monday, the parish celebrated a "grand opening" Mass, marking a resurrection of a different kind this Easter season.

For parishioners, it was a return to the faith home they have been away from for 23 months — first for remodeling work that was nearing completion when the fire struck, and the renovation following the fire.

Parishioners have been holding Mass at the Catholic Education Center on weekends since the fire and on weekdays have met in the cafeteria in the St. Mark’s school building.

For the Rev. Bill Stolzman, who has been at the parish for 19 years, Monday’s Mass was the culmination of a most challenging time.

"It has been a major concern for me to really hold the congregation together," Stolzman said. "Usually what happens in restorations is that people end up scattering [and joining other parishes]. But our congregation has actually grown."

Stolzman and parishioners who helped plan the renovation of the church had a trying 17 months, both physically and emotionally. To help them get through the ordeal, they had a photo of the church as it used to look, with words under it which read: "It will take time to do things right."

"I’ve heard the expression, ‘But father, it’s just a building,’" said Stolzman. "And my response is, is the Bible just a book? No. [The church] has a spiritual meaning, that it is capable of lifting the soul up to God. And that’s what this building does. This building with its Gothic arches really is an expression of the faith of this community in terms of worshipping the Lord and really celebrating his glory and his beauty in the world.

"This church is really a physical expression of the faith of the people in proclaiming the greatness of the Lord."

Tragedy strikes

Two years ago in May, extensive renovation work began on the German Gothic church, which was built in 1865. The congregation vacated the church for a four-month refurbishing project, and eagerly awaited the completion of the project, which included painting the walls and ceiling, new carpet, refinished altars and pews, and cleaned statues.

The church would be spiffed up in time for the congregation’s 150th anniversary this year — making it slightly older than the city of Shakopee, which will also celebrate that milestone this summer.

On Aug. 24, 2005, just two weeks before the work was scheduled to be completed, and as pews that were being refinished were starting to be brought back in, tragedy struck.

At 6:06 a.m. on that Wednesday morning, a passerby spotted smoke. Shakopee firefighters arrived at the scene minutes later, and immediately knew that if the church, its magnificent steeple a familiar part of the city’s skyline, was going to be saved, help would be needed.

Soon, firefighters and equipment from 13 fire departments in the region were on hand for a battle that would last more than 11 hours. Firefighters were hampered by crawl spaces under the church floor. Soon, the floor gave way near the front of the church where the fire started, near the main altar.

Weeks later, the state fire marshal determined the fire started by spontaneous combustion — when heat generated by internal chemical action results in fire. Discarded rags used by renovation workers apparently were the source.The workers’ company’s insurance, along with the church’s, paid for replacing what was lost or damaged. Insurance did not cover the costs associated additional aesthetic improvements, nor the cost to bring the church up to modern building codes. The church did not previously have to comply with modern codes because it was built so long ago.

The church will have to cover those costs on its own, said Stolzman, by a special fund-raising campaign.

Return of splendor

In the 1970s, the last time the church was renovated, it was right after Vatican II, during which the Roman Catholic Church went through a "minimalist" period. Churches were to be bare and simple, altars included.

"A lot of churches would just chop those [altars] off," Stolzman said. "Just threw them away." St. Mark’s followed suit — though not touching the altars — by painting everything inside gray, nine shades of it to be exact.

"So your focus would just be on the altar," said Stolzman, who had not yet arrived at St. Mark’s.

With the gray paint, many intricate works of art on the walls and ceiling of the church were hidden or difficult to see. That was unfortunate, said Stolzman.

"This church cries to be highlighted [with colors]," he said.

So after the fire, a decorating committee decided the church should be renovated not just to its pre-fire look, but to its original splendor, in which many of its architectural and aesthetic pieces were again brought to light.

"The work of the decorating committee was simply to let the beauty of the church proclaim the Lord," Stolzman said.

Stained glass

One of St. Mark’s most treasured features is its 13 stained-glass windows. Not only aesthetically but historically unique, they were made for Franz Joseph I, emperor of Austria-Hungary, for a family chapel. The chapel was never built, however, because of the start of World War I. The windows were actually buried at the time to keep them safe during the war. The Rev. Matthias Savs of St. Mark’s later purchased them for his church.

"So these literally are imperial windows," chuckled Stolzman, who quickly added: "But they are priceless."

During the battle to save the church, firefighters needed to open the building for air.

"[Firefighters] needed ventilation so they came up to me and said, ‘Father, can we knock out the windows?’" said Stolzman.

Stolzman knew it might be necessary, but he wanted a say in how it was done.

"I said, ‘I will tell you the order in which you can do that.’"

Three windows had to be replaced. The day after the fire, workers from a stained-glass company were on hand to pick up pieces of broken glass.

The plan was to put pieces of the windows together. "It was like a jigsaw puzzle, putting together the pieces," said Stolzman.

They would also use old photographs of the windows so they could be duplicated as closely as possible to the originals.

One large chunk of a window was missing, a cause of concern for the craftsmen who were trying to replicate the window. Old photographs of the window did not clearly show the pattern.

One day, a man stopped by to see Stolzman. The man said he saw a large piece of a window on the ground being stepped on after the fire so he picked it up and threw it in his truck. He asked Stolzman if he was collecting pieces of windows. Yes, Stolzman happily told him.

The new stained glass was shipped over from Germany and the windows were elaborately repaired by Gaytee Stained Glass of Minneapolis.

Damage extensive

When the fire was out and scores of bystanders and media members were gone, the church still stood, its interior heavily damaged by smoke and water and a portion of its floor collapsed.

Damage wasn’t just limited to the church itself. The adjoining administrative building and hall, connected to the church by a long hallway, was also damaged by smoke, including computer and other electronic equipment, and required replacement and extensive cleaning.

One of three elaborate German Gothic altars, on the right side of the main altar, was destroyed in the fire. The altar was rebuilt by Mike Menke, a local craftsman. The others were cleaned and refinished in Chicago.

Water and smoke damaged the Baroque Tracker organ, which was designed for St. Mark’s by Eric Fiss, beyond repair. A new organ, a four-manual hybrid Rogers 1038, has been delivered from Portland, Ore. It will be accompanied by real pipes crafted in Boulder, Colo.

The church statues were repaired and repainted in St. Paul.

The Stations of the Cross are freshly painted, with their original highlights brought out. About a third of the pews were lost and had to be replaced.

The "greatest achievement" of the renovation in the church is the ceiling, said Stolzman. Reconstructing the high Gothic ceiling and decorative capitals in the church was the handiwork of several craftspeople, including master plasterers, combining their efforts. The result is that many features of the ceiling and capitals are much more noticeable.

"The glory of a Gothic church is its arches," said the priest. "And these have been totally remade."

All the plaster work and decorative work was done from scratch. The church’s decorating committee "was very deliberate in that we didn’t want to bring in our own ideas. All the painting would accentuate the beauty that was already put in by the original craftsmen."

The careful planning and work was done with the idea that nothing will have to be changed for 50 years, said Stolzman. "We really made things well, to last."

Words to live by

Just inside the door of St. Mark’s hangs a cross, the only part of the original St. Mark’s, which was located just north of the current church, which remains.

There is an inscription, German words, above it. They say: "Whoever perseveres unto the end will be saved."

"That has been a real motto for us," said Stolzman. "Persevering to the end."