It was serendipitous that I met a lighting designer from Prague at an event for the New York State Landmarks Commission, Alex Staffa. I invited him to see St. Jean’s. He was very impressed by the building. As we spoke about a possible illumination I became convinced that this project could reignite donor interest in the grand project of restoring the building. I asked him to give us a proposal. We had just enough left in our kitty to pay for it. The parish council gave the permission to go for it, and we did. It was a wow moment the night the crowd that had gathered to witness the lighting poured out of the church onto Lexington Avenue to wait for the switch to be thrown. It was a good investment. Donations began to flow again – many of the them coming from first-time donors. We were able to finish the entire restoration project by 1997.

Today, about a third of the lights are out, and  a number of those are due to fixtures that aren’t functioning. The church is still lit, and people still comment on the light, but the lighting infrastructure needs to be refreshed.

On a tip from a parishioner, I met with the lighting engineer who lit the dome of St. Bartholomew’s on Park Avenue. He made a survey of our present system. I agreed with his assessment that the 1991 fixtures needed to be replaced with new, highly efficient, LED fixtures. (Take note of the new ceiling lights inside the church. We recently replaced the 60 or so lighting fixtures with 20 LED fixtures. The ceiling is singing a new song!)

The engineer gave me a proposal to replace all the fixtures. The job involves, of course, lifts and cranes that are expensive. The initial proposal for the job is $183,000. That’s a lot. But…the parishioner who introduced me to the lighting engineer pledged a $100,000 matching grant towards the project. We’re also trying to tap into a Con Ed grant program that assists institutions working to upgrade the efficiency of their lighting systems.

That’s where we are today. The stair project is first and foremost, not very thrilling, completely unseen, but absolutely essential. The re-lighting of the church will be very visible, attracting renewed attention and hopefully, new parishioners. Once again, I’m reaching out to you and your generosity. Please help the cause if you can. You may donate at the church office or place a check in any of the collection boxes in the church. Just write PROJECTS in the note space at the bottom left side of your check. Thank you for your support, your prayer and your participation.

Fr. John A. Kamas, SSS

Pastor