by Joe Bollig
joe.bollig@theleaven.org
BURLINGTON — If you want to see a church renovation — really, a restoration — done right, you owe it to yourself to visit St. Francis Xavier Church here.
St. Francis Xavier, built in 1901, looks as new as the day the doors were opened 122 years ago. The renovation began in January and was completed in mid-June.
The parish, which celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2021, celebrated its renovation by inviting Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann to dedicate its new altar during a Mass on June 30. Archbishop Naumann was the main celebrant and homilist.
Concelebrating the Mass were the pastor, Father Colin Haganey; Father Mike Hawken, Church of the Nativity in Leawood (former pastor); Father Daniel Stover, pastor of Holy Angels Church in Garnett and St. John the Baptist Church, Greeley; and Father Brent Stull, associate pastor of Ascension Church in Overland Park and a native of St. Francis Xavier Parish.
A wooden free-standing altar had been installed in front of the original high altar during the 1970s, said Father Haganey, pastor for the past two years.
“We felt that the [former] altar, which served for many years, was out of place with the rest of the sanctuary,” he said, “so we had a new altar built to match the high and side altars.”
Ecclesiastical Studios & Sons of Greenwood, Missouri, built the dark wood altar with gold highlights and white marble mensa (top). The firm also built a matching ambo and Communion rail. A new, accessible confessional was built in the back of the church, freeing space in the sacristy.
“A good number of people want to kneel for holy Communion,” said Father Haganey, about the rail. “We had a couple of kneelers set in front, but they were out of place. We wanted to include something [that was original] that added both function and beauty to the church.”
The former altar will be installed in a small chapel in the rectory or burned according to canon law.
There isn’t a surface in the church interior that hasn’t been cleaned, stained or painted. This includes the statues, Stations of the Cross, all wood surfaces, the walls and the decorative pressed-tin ceiling. There was a great deal of plaster repair, and a new sound system was in-stalled.
The overall effect is a brighter, more colorful interior.
“An important part of our restoration was to tie the colors of the church together,” said Father Haganey.
The work was generally inside, but the church first repaired the roof and installed new 250-pound, nine-foot-high steel exterior doors — the height of the original doors.
The cost of the entire project was $350,000. It was paid for by gifts from the estates of Mo and Charlotta Merritt, who died in 2009 and 2023 respectively, and Mo’s niece Ann Lafferty of Emporia, who died in 2020.
The parish hosted a lunch after Mass, which was catered by two parishioners who have a catering business and a food truck.
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