Restoring the Rock – St. Louis American

(KSDK.com) – Last week during Black History Month, St. Alphonsus Liguori “Rock” Catholic Church received a $500,000 grant for preservation from the National Trust for Historic Preservation African American Cultural Heritage Action fund. The church, which is located in north St. Louis and over 150 years old, was the only Black Catholic church this year to be awarded the grant. 

In addition to The “Rock” church, there are a total of 30 historic Black churches nationwide who will receive financial support from the Preserving Black Churches grant program totaling $8.5 million.  The church was one of more than 622 funding proposals that was reviewed.

The Rev. Rodney Olive has been leading The “Rock” Church for the last six years.

“This is a very beautiful church that’s over 150 years old, and like any historic church, it requires maintenance,” Olive said.  “The ‘Rock’ Church is an African American focused Catholic church, and I always tell colleagues that people don’t just go to mass here, they come to worship.”

One of the parishioners working on identifying areas of the church needing a little TLC is Monica Huddleston. The church has been her ‘spiritual home’ for the last three decades.

“It’s unlike other Catholic churches for our African American population particularly or for those who appreciate the African American style of worship,” Huddleston said.

Shannon Horstmann has been a parishioner at The “Rock” church for 25 years. She also has been writing the grant to preserve the church. 

“It was a tough process,” Horstmann said. “We are spirit led and spirit fed, and you will walk out of this door feeling transformed.”

She applied for the grant numerous times over the last several years. Each time, the church got denied.

“I kept thinking every year we had such a chance of getting this, and we kept getting denied,” Horstmann said.

Horstmann leaned on her faith. Then two weeks ago, an unexpected gift of receiving the $500,000 grant to help continue its legacy finally happened.

The parishioners and pastor say there needs to be a lot done to restore the church.

“There are several components to it, the stained-glass windows, the electro mechanics, roof repair, tuckpointing and all of those are major expenses,” Huddleston said. 

The team said the windows restoration could take 16-18 months to complete.    

Pastor Olive says additional repairs that need to be made.

“We have major equipment like the boilers and major AC units that are approaching 20 years old and like anything else it’s not designed to last forever,” Olive said. 

It isn’t the first time The “Rock” Church has needed a facelift. In August 2007, a five-alarm fire broke out at the church due to the roof being struck by lightning. 

“You could see the fire shooting out of the top of the building and the order that fire Chief Sherman George gave was for firefighters not to touch those stained-glass windows, and they didn’t,” Huddleston said.

This newly awarded grant will only pay for a third of the restoration project but also be a component of the church’s five-year capital campaign to raise a total of $1.5 million. The capital campaign has already raised $150,000 between pledges and gifts.

Olive is relying on his faith and parishioners to rally the community. 

“Yes, we can, with God yes we can,” Olive said.

Those interested in supporting The “Rock” Church in their effort to preserve and restore their church can visit www.stalphonsusrock.org

Services are held at 10 a.m. every Sunday at 1118 North Grand Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63106 – and are also livestreamed on YouTube.

Republished with permission from St. Louis American content partner 5 On Your Side. 

Related