News
Release
For Immediate Release April
13, 2004
Contact: Kevin J. Drabinski
Director of Communications
Diocese of Monterey
831/373.2919 or
805/541.5963
Mission San
Miguel, San Miguel, CA. . – The doors to the San Miguel Mission church
have been closed since last year’s December 22 earthquake. While the Mission
Gift Shop and Museum were inspected and reopened in early January, parishioners
have for the time being lost their home worship space and all Californians have
been denied access to the unique cultural resource that is the San Miguel
Mission Church.
In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake
inspectors judged that the church building was unsafe for occupancy. They
determined that the church would remain closed until a comprehensive inspection
and assessment was finalized and until repair of earthquake damage could be
completed.
This sobering assessment raised a number of
questions. How much would the retrofit cost? Where would the funds for the work
come from? Who would pay for it? How long would it take to reopen the Mission?
While still on the path to discovering firm answers to these questions, what is
now clear is that teamwork will likely be the key that eventually reopens the
doors to the San Miguel Mission.
The first team that has been assembled and
stepped forward involves members of the Franciscan Friars and the Diocese of
Monterey. The collaboration between the leadership of these two institutions
has been marked by their distinctive gifts and common desire to reopen the San
Miguel Mission. Representatives of both the Friars and the Diocese, along with
a core team of advisors competent in relevant fields, have formed the Mission
San Miguel Earthquake Action Committee.
In February, the Earthquake Action Committee
approved a stabilization project that allowed for important shoring up of the
church building at vulnerable points. [That effort is currently underway].
The Committee also approved a larger project
involving engineers, architects, archaeologists and others who would conduct an
intensive evaluation of the scope of the earthquake damage. The evaluation was
conducted in the last weeks of March and the full report from this team will
provide the best information to date on the scope of the earthquake damage and
cost estimates for reopening the Mission building.
Along with the
heavy work involved in getting their arms around a project of this size, the
Committee has also taken advantage of their coordinated efforts to meet
deadlines and manage all the paperwork involved with claims for insurance and
federal disaster relief.
The
greater San Miguel community has also stepped forward and teamed together in
smaller scale efforts to fund the necessary work on the Mission and to raise
awareness about the significant financial resources needed to accomplish this
goal. One local winery has committed a portion of their sales to the Mission
Preservation Fund while a local Vintners Association, recognizing the
Franciscan’s historic contributions to winemaking, honored the Mission with a
contribution from their recent Zinfandel Festival. Additionally, the New World
Baroque Orchestra, performing at Mission San Luis Obispo in a concert in
February to kick off the California Mission Studies Association annual
conference, donated their net proceeds to San Miguel Mission.
Undoubtedly,
teamwork will be the key that one day unlocks the Mission doors and makes it
home again to a vibrant parish community and a resource for every citizen in
the state. The initial understanding of the underlying structural situation and
its financial implications make it clear that the daunting task of reopening
the church will be accomplished only through the work of many gifted people
pulling together in the same direction. The remarkable collaboration already
shown in the community and by members of the Earthquake Action Committee is an
indication that important movement is already being made in the right
direction.