Church rises from ashes of arson
Metro-January 12, 2005 Take a look at www.restoreallsaints.org,
the Web site dedicated to reviving what remains of historic All Saints
Church in Stuart. There, in a few strokes of pen and
watercolor you’ll see Richard Doherty’s dream. Where an altar would normally rest,
a ballerina dances for a large crowd.
In another sketch, a group of executives sits around a table, and
in a third, three long-haired rock stars hold a jam session beneath the
sanctuary’s huge copper dome. It’s a goal that’s nearly $3
million away, said Doherty, director of Project Restore, the
Stuart-based nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing the church
back to what it once was. After
a few years’ fund-raising and sweat, the west end of the building is a
small chapel that seats 75, where weddings, meetings and small recitals
are held. It’s only a
fraction of the restoration plans. Doherty
wants the structure to be the grandiose landmark visible from Interstate
Highway 80 that it once was. So far, the group has raised about
$300,000 from grants and donations.
The church is on the National Register of Historic Places, and is
an official project of Save America’s Treasures, a federal program
dedicated to reviving historic structures. It appears Doherty has a long way to
go. He won’t give a time
frame—he can’t, but he promises that if the nonprofit received the
$3 million today, the project would be done in a year.
Either way, he knows one day the church will be restored to its
former glory, regardless of whether he’s around to celebrate.
“I believe it’s a legacy we need to leave to this community,”
he said. “It may be
something I may not see the end of, but at least I’ll be working on
it.” Doherty said
the fire, which devastated the community nearly 10 years ago, created a
resolve to one day revitalize the church.
He refrains from speaking the name of the arsonist, a man who
said that out of contempt for Catholicism, he wheeled a cart full of
gasoline containers into the church and set it ablaze, causing millions
of dollars in damage—today, only the walls of the structure remain.
Doherty said the community prefers not to give the perpetrator
the attention he craved. Instead,
they focus on the church and its future.
Doherty said most of Stuart insists this isn’t about
architecture, and it isn’t about religion—it’s about a
community’s resolve, and something else, he said.
“This isn’t a Catholic thing,” he said.
“Some of its biggest supporters are non-Catholics who want to
see it restored. It meant a
lot to them because it was part of their cultural heritage.
It was a community landmark, and they want to see it restored.”
Andrea Melendez/Register File Photo A light flickers: Steve
Brown, right, and his sons Shane and Clint light candles in the restored chapel
at the former All Saints Church in Stuart in 2002. A group has restored
the chapel after an arsonist burned down the church in 1995. Click to enlarge images The restored statue of St. Joseph and 13 foot
high altar relocated from upstate New York. Metropolitan Christopher, Primate
of the Serbian Orthodox Church in The Christmas String Quartet Concert has become a
tradition at Historic All Saints.
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