By Deirdre Parker Smith
dp1@salisburypost.com
With work on Sacred Heart Catholic School three weeks ahead of schedule, construction on the new church complex is going well.
Project manager and parishioner J.R. Dunkley estimates the school is about halfway complete, on track to open in August for the 2009-2010 school year.
“It will be a state-of-the-art school, with a gymnasium and a fully functioning kitchen with hot meals every day,” he said.
In addition, church and school officials have worked hard to provide the best possible security for the school itself and the entire property.
A timer-controlled gate will protect the complex from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.
People passing the construction site off North Jake Alexander Boulevard will notice a paved road going up the hill. It’s a city street to be be named Lumen Christi (light of Christ) Lane. The city of Salisbury is ready to put down the first layer of binder to build the street.
Michael Vaeth, building committee chairman, and Dunkley said essentially the same thing about the project: “The good news is there’s no bad news.”
Despite a wet fall, things have moved right along. Dunkley predicts painting can begin inside the school next week. Much of the exterior brick work is finished.
The property is 107 acres, 57 of which will be taken up by the church, school, cemetery and athletic fields.
The church should seat about 850 people.
The parish hall, school and kitchen form one part of the buildings. The church stands apart to emphasize the most religious part of the site.
The church’s two towers are up and bricked. Steel is up for the sanctuary.
Dunkley says they church was able to buy a large marble altar with two side altars from a closed Chicago Catholic church. Pews are coming from a closed church in Buffalo, N.Y. This has allowed cost savings for the church and saved the materials from the closed churches.
Vaeth says the school will house kindergarten through eighth grade with an additional classroom to start a pre-kindergarten in the future.
J.F. Schultz Construction of Charlotte is the general contractor.
The stained glass windows from the old church will be added to the new church, including the rosette window from the front of the church.
“Things are good,” Dunkley said.