Among the necessary renovations to the church is a brand-new floor and replacement of the pews which were totally destroyed in the storm.
Father Anthony Rucando hopes his parishioners will be able to return to their church at the end of January. Currently masses are being held at the Ave Maria Catholic Academy.
Like many businesses and homeowners in Howard Beach, Our Lady of Grace Church in Howard Beach is slowly but surely getting back on its feet.
It’s been over one month since Sandy hit and the church, located at 100-59 159 th Avenue, has been unable to reopen its doors to parishioners.
The majority of the damage to the church came from the flood waters that the storm produced.
Father Anthony Rucando, pastor of Our Lady of Grace, described the damage as “extensive,” including the pews, which have all been sent out to be restored, and a brand-new floor has to be installed throughout most of the church. Structurally, the main building of the church is still sound but recovery has been slow partially due to still not having electricity since Sandy came through.
“We need to bring it back to the warm and welcoming place it once was.” Rucando said.
In the meantime, Our Lady of Grace has been holding its services in the auditorium or the gymnasium at the Ave Maria Catholic Academy, just down the street from the church. They are not yet back to their full schedule of services, Rucando said, holding three masses a week, a 5 o’clock evening mass on Saturdays and 10 a.m. and noon masses on Sundays. It normally has five masses each week.
Although the church’s diocese has paid for the majority of the costs associated with the repairs, the father said that the Howard Beach community has been supportive both financially and in the way they have showed up to the services held at the catholic school.
“They been supportive, concerned, reassuring,” he said. “This is proof of the viability of this parish.”
Rucando said that on the first Sunday after Sandy hit New York, almost 300 people attended the mass it held despite electricity being out for the whole neighborhood and no way to get the word out about their services other than posting the information in front of the church and the school. He added that number of parishioners going to their masses have steadily increased since then.
Our Lady of Grace will continue to hold their masses at the school for the near future while it waits for repairs to the church to be completed. Rucando estimates that they will be back in their building by the end of January but that could change depending on how everything goes.
He said that they are still waiting for Con Edison to restore electricity and for Verizon to reconnect the phone lines. The Church’s rectory office is mostly up and running except for their phones not working. The Father said that they got power back to the rectory about two and a half weeks ago.
By Luis Gronda
