Items of interest July 4, 2011 Issue

Churches seek out innovative solutions

Cathy Lynn Grossman

“Church steeples, aging out of fashion, meet their maker” From USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co., Inc. Reprinted with permission. May 1, 2011.

Atop the tiny , white-columned 1842 church where Glen Likens was baptized, where he married his wife, where their children were baptized, where they still worship on Sundays, the steeple is rotting.

St. Mark’s Episcopal in Wadsworth, Ohio, hasn’t dared sound the 2,000-pound bell, which has a broken carriage and patched hammer, for a year. It may not sound again—unless a congregation numbering 58 souls in a good week can come up with $30,000.

“It’s no easy amount to raise. We absolutely considered taking it off and capping the roof, but voices within the congregation want their bell, their tower. It’s symbolic. It’s part of our church. We want it to be there for our children’s future,” says Likens, who volunteers as St. Mark’s junior warden in charge of maintenance.

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