Nothing would be finer than to be in Carolina

Henninger's service crew recently finished a renovation at St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte, NC. Fr. Christopher Roux, the rector of the Cathedral, picked Henninger's for the movement of marble in the sanctuary through the shared relationship with the Poor Clares nuns.

Undated photo of St. Patrick before any renovation.

Before St. Patrick became the Cathedral of the Charlotte Diocese, the tabernacle was positioned at the back of the church. After renovations in 1979 and 1996, it was moved to the side of the sanctuary.  Commenting on the decision to move the tabernacle back, Fr. Roux commented, "The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith. It has always been custom to have the tabernacle placed in a prominent (usually central) place in a church.  In the Cathedral, Bishop (Peter) Jugis desired to have that custom honored."

Removing marble back wall

Besides turning a side altar into a back altar of repose, Henninger's also moved marble benches, the bishop's marble sedelia, marble ambo, and reworked the marble baptismal font.  Each of these tasks required expert skill in moving and setting stone.

Moving side altar, piece by piece

Henninger's crew is headed by Jerry Klimo.  Jerry has been working on church restorations since 1973.  "I used to go to church and look around and say, 'Who did all this work?' It just amazed me. Then I went to work for the company that does it."




Jacob Sharf and Adam Klimo (Jerry's son) were also involved with the on-site renovation.  Precise grinding and carving, heaving lifting, and operating machinery are all required skills on a complicated job like this one.  




Years of experience in marble guided the crew to meet the expectations of Fr. Roux and the entire community at St. Patrick Cathedral.  As the work was wrapping up, Adam reflected on their two weeks in North Carolina:

Pictured from left: Jacob Sharf, Adam Klimo, & Jerry Klimo

"It’s been blessing to do this job, it shows what hard work and communication can create together," he said. "I want to thank you for all of us. For showing us what it means to the Church family. We do jobs without much fanfare and we don't mind it because God gave us the ability to do the work, so we don't like to take the attention off the One who should be getting the praise, and that is God.
"No matter what is done in churches, whenever you walk into that place of worship, you are there to bring glory to His name, and that is how we think of our work: it is our way to praise Him. He gave us the gift to work with these materials and to not use those abilities would to not bring praise to our Creator."

The following are some photos of the completed work: