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Restoration To Start At St. Lawrence

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By MARK HOLAN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 5, 2007

TAMPA - Restoration work is nearly ready to begin at St. Lawrence Catholic Church, which was damaged by a fire.

Crews have spent a month assessing damage caused by an electric candle stand that burst into flames overnight Nov. 3 and burned out before the first Mass early the next morning.

"There was limited fire damage, but extensive smoke and soot damage," business administrator Cris Stout said.

He estimated damage will be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and repair work could last beyond February.

"We will do whatever is possible to get back in there by Easter," Stout said.

Easter is March 23.

The church is keeping its regular Mass schedule with services in the school chapel and cafeteria, and at the social center, Higgins Hall, on the 20-acre campus, 5221 N. Himes Ave. Stout said the church also is squeezing in extra services for the Christmas season.

About 2,800 families belong to St. Lawrence, and Stout said the fire hasn't caused attendance to drop.

St. Lawrence was founded in 1958 with about 200 families, according to its Web site. Worship services were held at Hillsborough High School, Wellswood Civic Center and other locations until a provisional church opened in 1961.

The current church was dedicated April 5, 1981.

"A lot of the sentiment seems to be that we are back to our roots," Stout said. "We had this nice church and now we are back in the halls again."

He said the church will switch from electric to wax votive candles.

Updates on the restoration and other information are available at www.stlawrence .org.

Reporter Mark Holan can be reached at (813) 835-2102 or mholan@tampatrib.com.

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