At 8:29am on Friday, November 30, 2018, The Feast Day of St. Andrew, a 7.0 earthquake rocked Southcentral Alaska. Our town of Eagle River was hardest hit, being just ten miles from the epicenter. St. Andrew Catholic Church in Eagle River, the parish home to over 1,000 families, suffered the most severe and extensive damage of any Catholic Church in the greater Anchorage area. Chandeliers crashed to the floor, statues smashed, stained glass shattered, whole pieces of sheetrock cracked and fell, furnace boiler pipes separated, spewing glycol all over the floor, the roof drain pulled away from the wall, causing “rain” and water damage in the office area, and a ¾” crack opened up the floor in front of the sanctuary, running across the entire nave of the church. It does not seem coincidental that this quake occurred on our patronal feast day, the feast of St Andrew the Apostle. As Archbishop of Anchorage, the Most Reverend Paul Etienne, said two days later when he celebrating mass for our community, “It seems providential that St. Andrew Catholic Church would bear the brunt of the earthquake on his patronal feast day.”

Despite substantial damage to our beautiful church building, the church’s structural engineer determined that the structure was still safe to occupy, so we continued with our St. Andrew’s Day Mass that evening.  However, we were forced to move to the narthex due to the debris from fallen chandelier lights, broken stained glass and statues, and pieces of drywall littering the nave.  It was a beautiful Mass, held by candle light as the electricity was out following the quake with people wearing their winter jackets because the furnace was not yet working. We had much to give thanks to God for as there were no fatalities or major injuries resulting from this dramatic earthquake.

We are still assessing the damages; however, it appears that the repair costs will exceed our insurance deductible of about $650,000.  We are asking for assistance so that we can repair our beautiful church, that was completed just 12 years ago.