Archive for category: Featured Stories

Laura Keener and Maura Baker

Editor and Staff Writer

High above the streets of Covington, in the hidden upper spaces of the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, the building keeps a quiet record of the people who built it. Brian Walter has seen it there: initials and dates carved or written by workers who climbed into the attic-like spaces generations ago, men whose names are otherwise lost but whose hands helped shape the cathedral.

“What’s interesting up in the top, up in the attic space, way up in the top, is you see a lot of initials and dates of guys that have been there, either worked on it or were there for some reason,” Mr. Walter said. “You see like, you know, JLV were his initials, and then the date. That guy was up there almost 100 years ago. He’s been dead for years and years and years. Nobody knows who that guy was or anything, but his fingers touched that building and did something there.”

That thought stayed with Mr. Walter as Trisco Systems worked through the most recent restoration of the cathedral. For Mr. Walter, Trisco’s owner, and Rob Davis, one of the company’s veteran craftsmen, the project was never simply a construction job. It was a continuation of a century-old chain of labor, skill and responsibility. The original builders left behind a sacred landmark. The Trisco team’s task was to make sure it could stand for another century.

“Just like we’re going to be faceless, nameless people someday, too, that touched that building as well,” Mr. Walter said. “But the building will still stand long after us. And I guess it’s our duty to pay respect to those guys that built that building and that have worked on that building, that we do our best so it’s here 100 years from now.”

Trisco had history with the cathedral before this restoration began. Mr. Walter served as project manager on an earlier phase in 2001, when exterior work accompanied a larger interior renovation. At that time, he said, Trisco cleaned the building, performed tuckpointing, addressed window caulking and focused on urgent exterior problems, including chimeras that had been damaged, deteriorated or even knocked loose.

“The focus was keeping the water out, life safety issues,” Mr. Walter said of the earlier work. “We didn’t want stones falling on the street, falling on the sidewalks or over the public areas. We were just trying to buy you some more time before a bigger project could be done.”

The 2001 work did buy time. The chimeras were patched with terracotta materials, pinned, epoxied, glazed and returned to their places. But Mr. Walter knew even then that some elements eventually would need full replacement. “We got a few more years out of them. And now this project here turned into replacement of all of the chimeras, and that was very, very necessary,” he said.

When the more recent project began, Mr. Walter was not managing its day-to-day work. Todd Zapp, Trisco’s original project manager for the restoration, led that effort with Mr. Davis and Tim Purdy. Mr. Walter had shared what he remembered from the earlier phase, but Mr. Zapp, Mr. Davis and Mr. Purdy carried the new scope from the beginning.

From the ground, Mr. Davis’ first reaction was awe. “When I first pulled up on the job site, first thing I could say is, wow, what a beautiful building,” he said. “First time I’d ever seen it. It became a very interesting project. We knew our regular scope of work, which was a big job, but it wasn’t as big as it ended up being.”

That changed once the team began inspecting the cathedral up close. “Once Todd and I got up there and started inspecting things, we realized that things were in worse shape than what they originally thought,” Mr. Davis said. “At that point, obviously the job grew. And the things that we had to do was a little more involved than we anticipated. So that’s why it took the time and obviously the money.”

Mr. Walter said that kind of discovery is common in restoration work. Drawings, estimates and scopes of work can only reveal so much. “A lot of those things you can’t really blame anybody for,” he said. “It’s what you find when you actually get your nose up on the work.”

Much of the public attention centered on the cathedral’s chimeras and gargoyles, the dramatic figures that can be seen from below. Those were important, but Mr. Walter and Mr. Davis emphasized that some of the most complex and significant work involved the stone tracery: the columns and arching stonework around the upper portions of the building.

“All those arch stones that come together and land on top of the columns, those are the tracery. We replaced all of those stones, all of those columns,” said Mr. Walter. “That’s the really severe deterioration that we noticed when we first started the project. Everybody sees the chimeras and the gargoyles and is happy with those, but everything in between all that got replaced as well.”

For Mr. Davis, the tracery was both the most difficult and most critical part of the project. “That was like putting the puzzle back together,” he said. “When you took that apart, you had to put it back. It had to be precise. A quarter inch off when you first start, you could be an inch off when you’re on the right side when you’re done. So, it had to be exact.”

The work demanded planning long before stones were moved. Mr. Davis recalled “a lot of nights of Todd Zapp and I on the phone, sleepless nights, wondering how we’re going to do this and the best way we could do this and the safest way to do it.”

Some of the deterioration came from the very materials that originally held the cathedral together. Mr. Walter explained that buildings of the cathedral’s era commonly relied on carbon steel pins, fasteners and structural elements. Over time, that steel rusts. As it corrodes, it expands, placing pressure on the surrounding limestone until the stone cracks or breaks.

“Most all of the problems with the stone deterioration were caused by the carbon steel fasteners, hidden fasteners, pins and those types of things that are holding things up,” Mr. Walter said. “They were rusting and corroding and no longer able to do their job. So, when we put new stone in, we put new stainless-steel pins, stainless steel fasteners, stainless steel structural elements that will last indefinitely.”

Mr. Davis said many people asked what was causing the stone to fail. “The old pins that they used, like Brian was saying, when they rust, they swell,” he said. “At that point, your limestone is your weakest point, and that’s why it’s going to bust. And that’s what caused that. And there was a lot of it.”

Mr. Walter summed up the approach this way: “We put it back not the way it was, but better than the way it was.”

The restoration also highlighted how much construction technology has changed since the cathedral was first built. Historic photographs show horses, wagons, ropes and wooden derricks used to lift stone into place. Mr. Davis joked he was glad the modern crew did not have to rely on horse and buggy. “I felt like I was the horse sometimes,” he said.

Mr. Walter describes the contrast plainly. “If you see those old photographs, that’s how they got the stone up there,” he said. “They had these derricks made out of wood with pulleys on the top and used ropes to pull the stone up. And the horses were pulling on the ropes to pull the stone up to the top. And the way we do it now is we call the crane guy. In 10 minutes, he lifts those heavy stones right to the top.”

The team relied on cranes, boom lifts, scaffolding and a monorail system that helped raise and position stones around the building. Mr. Davis describes the monorail as “an electric motor with a cable that you hook the stone to, to take them out and put them back in.” Mr. Walter said it was essentially an I-beam system running horizontally near the top of the building, assembled and moved by the scaffolding contractor as work progressed.

Even with modern equipment, the work could be tense. Mr. Davis often worked from the ground manning a rope tied to heavy stone being lifted, keeping it away from the building so it would not scuff the masonry as it rose. Asked if he wore two hard hats for that work, he answered, “Probably should have, but I didn’t.”

Still, the heart of the work remained the human eye and hand. “That’s where you rely on Rob and his guys,” Mr. Walter said. “They are master craftsmen. You can say all you want, you can show him a drawing, but it takes the guy and his eye to get it on the wall.”

For Mr. Davis, successful restoration is measured partly by whether anyone can tell where the new work begins.

“Once we left there, the best way to say it is, you can’t tell we’ve even been there,” he said. “That’s key to me, that none of our work stood out. You want everything to look like you haven’t been there. And that’s even the new stone, everything blended in as well with washing everything down. So nothing really stood out. And that’s the key to restoration, making everything look like you haven’t been there, make the whole building look beautiful again.”

Mr. Walter said some of the finest work on the project is nearly invisible to most visitors. On the roof are inner areas and courtyards few people will ever see. There, hidden from the street, are more traceries, stone columns sitting on the roof and copper flashing and caps worked carefully into place.

“You’ll never, nobody will ever see that stuff,” Mr. Walter said. “And it’s the most beautiful work. It should be on the front down low so people can see it, but nobody will. And what you get with us and what you get with master craftsmen like Rob and his guys is you get perfection 150 feet in the air, the same perfection as you get 10 feet in the air. I’m really proud of that. I’m really proud of the work we did.”

Both Mr. Walter and Mr. Davis said the cathedral project felt different because it was deeply collaborative. Mr. Walter said some projects are driven by architects or engineers who tell contractors what to do without drawing on their experience. This restoration, he said, was not like that. It was a team effort among the architect, cathedral staff, Father Ryan Maher, Don Knochelmann and others working for the good of the building and the community.

“What I don’t always get, and I got definitely on this one, is the pride of the congregation, the pride of the people of not only the Catholic community, but also the city of Covington,” Mr. Walter said. “They’re so proud of that church. Every time I was there, I would get a thank you from somebody, some guy just walking by. The staff is just so grateful and so appreciative of the work that we were doing. And that motivates you to want to do better.”

Mr. Davis agreed. “Just knowing how much that cathedral means to so many people, it grabs us too,” he said. After returning for the celebration of the completed work, Mr. Davis said he felt “pretty proud” of the whole Trisco team.

The cathedral also reached them personally. Mr. Walter, who grew up Catholic, said time in the cathedral — especially returning with his wife for Mass — reminded him of the power of sacred space. “People say that it’s a special place and people say that it’s a spiritual place and that it moves you when you see the light coming through those stained-glass windows,” he said. “And you’re like, yeah, yeah, yeah. But when you’re there, it’s absolutely true. That place is beautiful. It’s special. It puts you in a completely different frame of mind for that hour that you’re at Mass.”

Mr. Davis said the people at the cathedral made him feel welcome from the beginning. “Everybody’s there for a purpose, and it’s a good purpose,” he said. “Everybody’s there for each other. Trisco worked with them, as well as them working with us, and it worked out for everybody. So, in more ways than one, it really touched me deep.”

The project also drew unusual media attention. Mr. Walter said Trisco’s work often receives local notice in communities where the company works, but the cathedral restoration traveled much farther after being picked up by the Associated Press.

“When the AP picked it up, I can’t think of the time that’s ever happened to us before,” Mr. Walter said. “I have a friend that lives in Las Vegas that it was in front of the Las Vegas newspaper. I had a buddy in Chicago that recorded it on Fox News Headline News. He was like, ‘Oh my God, is this you?’ It was all over the country. It was international, not even just the country, when the AP picked it up.”

Mr. Walter admitted the interviews pushed him out of his comfort zone. “Way out of my comfort zone,” he said. He tried to persuade Mr. Davis to do more of the interviews, but Mr. Davis had a simple answer: “I was busy.” In the end, Mr. Walter said, “Somebody had to. I’m glad it ended up happening.”

Throughout the restoration, Mr. Davis said the team had a phrase for what they hoped to achieve: “the 100-year fix.” It was not only about repairing broken stone. It was about honoring the original craftsmen, safeguarding the cathedral for those who worship there now and handing it forward to people who will never know the names of the workers who made it safe and beautiful again.

“That was our saying during the whole project,” Mr. Davis said. “Another 100 years is what everybody wanted. That was the goal.”

In the hidden upper reaches of the cathedral, the initials from 100 years ago remain as a reminder that every generation receives the building from someone else. Now Mr. Walter, Mr. Davis, Mr. Zapp and the Trisco team have added their DNA, even if most of their work is meant to disappear into the whole. Their names may not be visible from the pews or the sidewalk, but their labor is part of the cathedral’s ongoing story — more sets of hands that touched the building so it can continue lifting the eyes and hearts of Covington to God — the Master Creator — for years to come.

Laura Keener

Editor

Covington’s Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption has long been one of the Diocese of Covington’s greatest treasures. But after more than 100 years of wind, rain, freezing and thawing, parts of the stone and terra cotta exterior needed serious repair. Through the Restored in Christ project, the diocese has completed a large restoration meant to keep visitors safe and preserve the beloved landmark for future generations.

Don Knochelmann, diocesan director of Buildings and Properties who helped oversee the work, said the problems began to stand out around 2019 and early 2020.

“We really started to see more pieces of stone fall off,” Mr. Knochelmann said. “We’d find pieces on the ground, or things would have to be strapped together.” That led to a close study of the building. SHP Architects used a 3D scan of the cathedral, then inspected the exterior up close from a crane basket over several days.

What they found showed the project would be much larger than first expected. Mr. Knochelmann said the team found “severe cracks in the gargoyles and chimera,” along with “spalled stone, cracked stone pieces of the terracotta capitals,” and limestone that was “falling apart due to the freeze and thaw conditions in this part of the country.” He said he did not know of any exterior restoration this extensive in the cathedral’s history.

The work was wide in scope. All 26 chimera and all 32 gargoyles were replaced with exact replicas. The old pieces were scanned and sent to Boston Valley Terra Cotta in New York so new hollow terra cotta pieces could be made with vents and weep holes for drainage. Dozens of limestone columns were replaced, along with colonnade pieces, copper flashing and much of the tracery.

Mr. Knochelmann said the team first thought about 10 percent of the tracery would need replacement, but once workers got started, they found rusted steel pins and deeper damage. “Once we started cutting into it, we had to replace more and more,” he said.

Trisco Systems performed the masonry restoration, while Imbus Roofing handled copper work, flashing and detailed copper repairs. Mr. Knochelmann praised Trisco’s field and office teams, saying they were “extraordinarily helpful” as unexpected problems appeared. “They were really part of the team,” he said. “They wanted to be here. They wanted to have their name on such a highly visible, just a very well-known building.”

The project also grew in cost. Jim Hess, director of Stewardship and Mission for the Diocese of Covington, said the restoration began as a $6 million project and ended up around $8 million.

“Anybody who owns an old building knows once you begin work and you start taking out bricks or you start taking down tiles, inevitably there’s more damage than you initially thought,” Mr. Hess said.

He said the original plan included about a half million dollars for expected overages, but “the true overage far exceeded that” by about $2 million.

Mr. Hess said some stones that were first marked for repair had to be replaced by the time workers reached them. And once a stone marked for replacement was removed, it was discovered that adjacent stones would also need replacing.

“Sometimes you thought you were replacing one stone, and you’re actually repairing or replacing three,” he said. The same was true for some of the terra cotta figures. “Some of the chimera initially, we thought we could repair,” Mr. Hess said. “But it became evident that we had to replace all of them.”

Funding came from three main sources. Mr. Hess said those were “a diocesan-wide public campaign,” “the Cathedral Parish’s parish campaign,” and tax credits through the Kentucky Heritage Council. Because the cathedral is a national historic landmark, the diocese could apply for historic tax credits and then sell them to a local bank. Mr. Hess said that resulted in “a little over a million dollars for the campaign.”

The Cathedral Parish campaign raised about $1.3 million, according to Mr. Hess, who said the parish effort was “very successful.” A planning committee recruited volunteers who met with donors and asked them to consider gifts. “The cathedral parish itself did all it could as a cathedral parish to contribute to this campaign,” Mr. Hess said.

The rest came from the wider public campaign, including generous gifts from nearly 2,000 donors. Mr. Hess said important grants also came from the St. Elizabeth Foundation, the R.C. Durr Foundation and the Butler Foundation. Their support, along with gifts from people across the diocese and beyond, helped make the project possible.

Bishop John Iffert also played an important role by supporting the team as the scope grew. Mr. Knochelmann said, “Bishop was awesome throughout this entire project.” When the team showed new damage and explained the need for added work, Mr. Knochelmann said the bishop’s response was clear: “We need to find a way to do it.” That cooperation helped the project move forward, even as costs rose.

For Mr. Hess, the campaign renewed interest in the cathedral, not just historically but also theologically. He said it gave Bishop Iffert and the priests of the diocese an opportunity to explain that the cathedral is not just one parish, but “the Mother Church of the diocese.” He added, “We’re all parishioners of the cathedral.”

For Mr. Knochelmann, the finished work is a gift to the future.

“The end result is a building that should give us another 100 plus years,” he said. He also called the cathedral “by far the most beautiful cathedral I’ve been to.” Being part of the team, he said, is something he will “look back on fondly.”

As work on the Restored in Christ restoration project ends, there is still time to financially contribute to the project. According to Mr. Hess donations are needed to close a $300k funding gap. Make a donation and add your name to the already nearly 2,000 donors at covdio.org/give and click on “Make a Gift” to Restored in Christ.

Bella Bailey

Multimedia Correspondent

The Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption’s, Covington, restoration began in early 2024 and has grown larger in scale and reputation in each passing year. Hundreds of faithful throughout the Diocese have contributed to the Restored in Christ campaign, to ensure the restoration of their Mother Church.

Covington residents and visiting onlookers could often be found with their cameras out, photographing the hoisting of the gargoyles, chimera, columns and tracery as piece by piece the Cathedral was disassembled and put back together. Local and national media like the Associated Press have reported on the restoration, with the Cathedral parish’s own rector, Father Ryan Maher giving comments to journalists and news agencies.

For Father Maher however, the heart of the project lies deeper than the dollars raised and recognition received, it is about how the Cathedral has stood as a beacon for the faithful of the Diocese, and how it is an honor to take part in Bishop Maes’ historic vision. Noting, even, that the restoration was not a routine maintenance issue but rather a preservation one.

The project, he said, “was taking of a treasure that we’ve been given so that many, many, many more people can come to know the Lord through their experience of the Lord inside and outside of this holy place.”

As Father Maher watched the construction from his office window, as craftsman moved on lifts and operated cranes, what really struck him was “the sense that every inch matters, every millimeter matters,” he said. “That was inspiring to me.” It reminded him that “that’s how the Lord’s love is for us. Every detail matters of my life, of your life. There’s nothing in my heart or in my life that doesn’t matter to him, and there’s no detail that’s not attended to by the Lord and his desire for us. To see that expressed in all of the work, I think, that was one of the main things that stood out,” he said.

The Cathedral was erected by Bishop Camillus Maes, who laid the cornerstone for the church in 1895. Craftsman then worked by horse and buggy, using pully systems to bring the original chimera to the top of the Cathedral. However, the attention to detail remained the same.

“It’s remarkable,” said Father Maher, “because Bishop Maes was very detailed, and details mattered to Bishop Maes and they mattered to us in our life of faith.”

“As time went on, I really just became more and more grateful, and really honored that we can do this together for not just ourselves, but for the future generations. Just being able to, in a practical way, to share Bishop Maes’ work … that we took part in his vision,” said Father Maher.

“It’s a hundred-year project,” he said, recognizing that the building has stood the test of time for over one hundred years, “and we’re the people of that hundred year time. It fell to use to be a part of that, and that was really an ongoing source of, for me, gratitude to the Lord for providing this opportunity.”

With the restoration project officially concluded with the August 15 celebration held on the Feast of Our Lady of the Assumption, the patronal feast day of the Cathedral, Father Maher has taken a moment to reflect and recognized that “there was something more going on than just the restoration of Christ in the Cathedral, but for us — for the local Church, the Diocese, for all those who donated, for all those who come — that there is a restoration of the heart that the Lord is always wanting to make new.”

Maura Baker

Staff Writer

The sun shone over the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, Covington, as parishioners, guests and donors came together to celebrate two-fold the cathedral’s feast day and the end of the cathedral restoration project, Restored in Christ, Aug. 15 — the Feast of the Assumption.

Mass began the evening with Bishop John Iffert as the celebrant. Bishop Iffert greeted a full congregation that evening, explaining that he had allowed the feast day to be celebrated at the evening Mass preceding the celebration to follow.

In his homily, Bishop Iffert began by thanking the congregation. “Thank you again for coming out in such good numbers today to celebrate the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and also to celebrate the successful conclusion of the Restored in Christ project here at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption,” he said.

Bishop Iffert shared a story of his arrival as the bishop of Covington, where “there was a report sitting on (his) desk detailing all of what was happening at the Cathedral Basilica,” Bishop Iffert said, “how pieces were falling off and stones were pitted and broken.”

Surprised by this, as the building seemed beautiful — Bishop Iffert noticed the need after being pointed to the damage in the cathedral’s stonework. And thus, the diocese took on the project of restoring the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption.

“Whenever you take up a project of restoring a monument like this, there is a huge learning curve to be tackled,” he said. Bishop Iffert said that one of the very first things he learned were the differences between grotesques, chimera and gargoyles.

“We began to learn these kinds of things,” said Bishop Iffert, “to study the issues that we would face, to talk about what kind of expertise we need in a contractor that might work with us on a project like this … and so, with the help of some of you who are here today, we set out on that journey.”

After a successful campaign, raising over $7 million dollars towards the cathedral’s restoration, Bishop Iffert said that the diocese undertook the project for a simple reason: “To be able to guard the legacy left to us by Bishop Maes and the predecessors who came before us, who wanted this place to be a testimony to the merciful love of God for Covington in Northern Kentucky.”

“We undertake projects like this because here, in this place, just behind me and to my left, dwells the tabernacle of the Lord Jesus Christ,” he said. “And so, we build and we rebuild and we restore and we protect these monuments built of stone and wood and brick and glass and plaster. We do this because it is a place of dwelling for Jesus Christ, our Lord, and his holy people.”

“If you and I, with all our evil thoughts,” Bishop Iffert continued, “take such care in preparing and protecting a place for the sacramental presence of the Lord — how much more power, goodness, care, love, devotion, attention to detail, generosity does God the Father pour out to prepare a tabernacle for the incarnate Son, Jesus Christ, the one who comes to lay himself down for love of us?”

Bishop Iffert used this bridge to connect the restoration project to the Blessed Virgin and the Feast of the Assumption, saying that throughout all of the Scripture’s labors, “the Lord was working to prepare and protect a woman … who would be prepared to say yes and to become the tabernacle of the incarnate Lord of Heaven and Earth.”

That same Lord “is now dwelling in this heavenly temple,” Bishop Iffert said, referring to the cathedral he spoke in. “All of that becomes a sign for us that God’s grace is still at work in us, still at work in humanity, still at work in the Church, still at work in those who love and respect the Lord … our buildings are a sign to us of God’s mercy working in Northern Kentucky and in the world.”

“They remind us,” he said, “of the woman the Lord gave to us as a mother, to include and embody and foreshadow the salvation of all God’s holy people. This mystery secures the promise that, as the Lord has done for the first to say yes to him, so his grace is at work, building us as living stones into a temple where he dwells.”

After the Mass’s conclusion, guests were invited to join Bishop Iffert and the rest of the diocese in celebrating both the restoration project’s completion and this mystery in an event that spanned much of Cathedral Square.

Donors and parishioners came together for dinner in the adjacent Covington Latin School and ice cream in St. Mary’s Park, and were welcome to walk the Cathedral’s grounds — which included participation in a scavenger hunt, and the ability to contribute their thoughts to a time capsule that will be stored in a statue within the cathedral’s Marian garden.

Bella Bailey

Multimedia Correspondent

One year ago, in the early spring days of 2025, Transfiguration Mission church, Perry Park, situated near the Kentucky River, was rendered unusable after three feet of flood water destroyed all in its wake. The carpets, the pews and anything touching the floor had to be removed. After a painstaking year of renovations, the Church has opened its doors once more, inviting visitors and parishioners alike to come worship in a new space that inspires the “awesomeness” of the faith, said Father Thomas Picchioni, pastor.

To mark the occasion of the completion of the interior renovations, Bishop John Iffert traveled to the mission church, consecrated the altar, blessed the church and dedicated the new space, so that it might serve as a gateway to eternal life with Jesus for years to come.

The original Transfiguration Mission church was built in the seventies, and the interior reflected the design choices of the time, explained Father Picchioni. “It had a crucifix and everything, so you knew you were in a church, but that sense of awe seemed to be missing,” he said. When it came time to renovate the church post flood, Father Picchioni focused on deep liturgical themes and the want for a sacred space.

“I wanted people to feel a sense of peace just being here … a piece of ‘I’m in a different world now,” he said. “The intent of the whole redo was to get people to walk in here and just feel the awesomeness of what it means to be in a church.”

Because of the devastation caused by the flooding, the church was able to get an entirely new interior look. Originally, the tabernacle was off to the side, and the priest sat in the middle of the altar. Now, the tabernacle is situated on a new, wooden, high altar, adorned on the front with the carved image of the last supper. In addition, a new eternal flame was installed on the wall of the Church, replacing the one that was beside the tabernacle prior. The altar of sacrifice is also new, matching the gold detailing of the high altar, it depicts the sacrificial lamb with angels on either side. To match, the ambo is also a dark wood, with the imagery of the four evangelists.

The new sanctuary is larger than the old and was designed by Father Picchioni with the space in mind. “I wanted the sanctuary to be as big as possible … I designed it, gave it a unique look.” In addition, the crucifix that now hangs above the tabernacle, with a base of wood and gold detailing to match, was also handmade by Father Picchioni.

His vision for the new space came together, through determination and help of his parishioners, “I said, ‘I’m going to fight to put something together that is what I think is going to give glory to God,’” he said.

Parishioner Diane Webster said, “people were very impressed walking in and seeing all the new fixtures and just how refreshing and … it became more of a sacred space.”

“Seeing the time, effort, and money that got put into restoring it has definitely been very positive in our neighborhood, in our community, and it has definitely uplifted spirits … In some ways, it’s helped restore faith in some of our neighbors,” she said. “I think it makes them feel like their faith life is valued.”