Friday, April 11, 2025
Stations of the Cross
Come pray the Stations of the Cross at St. Irenaeus Chapel.
The Stations will be led beginning at 6:00 p.m. tonight, April 11th.
Stations of the Cross will begin at 2:30 p.m. on Good Friday, April 18th.
Booklets are provided. All are welcome. The Stations take approximately 40 minutes.
Lenten AlmsGiving
Please consider helping the next project at St. Irenaeus.
Speakers and Steeples
You won’t miss a word with the new sound system!
The old siding was stripped off and more scaffolding constructed to reach the top of the cupola.
As the old wood was very weathered, some reframing had to be done before sheeting it with plywood.
The windows were constructed off-site using AZEK trim and are ready for installation. A special heater was used to form the materials to fit within the gothic frames.
The new sound system was calibrated by the Renkus-Heinz company and the speakers were adjusted to deliver sound at pew height. The system includes a podium microphone, hand-held microphone and a microphone headset. In addition, there are four portable earpieces available for Mass attendees.
With the wi-fi system, sound can also be heard through the Wavecast app on your cell phone or hearing aids.
A Retreat For the Women
A women’s Ignatian retreat will be held July 21-16, 2025 near Saint Croix, Minnesota.
Get more information here.
For additional retreats and camp opportunities, please see previous posts.
Again, Every Drop Counts
Consider giving toward finishing the restrooms.
May God reward you.
To donate by check, please mail:
St. Irenaeus Chapel
2811 N 2nd Street
Clinton, IA 52732
To donate electronically, please email the chapel for the link:
Saturday, March 15, 2025
Fridays During Lent
Come pray the Stations of the Cross at St. Irenaeus Chapel.
The Stations will be led beginning at 6:00 p.m. Booklets provided.
The Roof is Revealed
Plus new speakers and concrete work.
The speakers were installed and its electronics were wired. Next, the sound system will be adjusted by a professional.
This speaker system is designed to direct sound at the height of those sitting in the pews. In the future, speakers will be expanded into the vestibule, cry room and basement.
Concrete was poured and hauled inside by a motorized wheelbarrow.
Up on the steeple, the temporary workroom was dismantled. Materials have been hauled up and down with this scaffolding lift system:
Here is a glimpse from inside the steeple roof.
You can see 1) the original beams that were reinforced by C – channel, 2) the brackets that were fabricated to fasten down the cupola, and 3) the mortar poured on top of the limestone wall to create a sturdy, level surface.
Off-site, additional work was done to prepare materials for the roof’s curved shape. Then, the new structure was pieced together.
This shows the south steeple compared to the north steeple. What an improvement!
The north steeple roof was sheeted and sealed up before the anticipated storm.
While we are here, enjoy another view from the top:
(The roofing contractors will return soon to fix the flashing shown at the end of the roof.)
A FLASHBACK to when the roof was shingled in March 2022:
Also this week, the limestone was cut away from the main basement entry threshold and poured with concrete.
This will allow a new exterior door to be installed.
A Virtues Retreat
Twenty spots are open for the men. (The women’s retreat is already full.)
It will be hosted near St. Louis, Missouri and preached by Father Alphonsus from July 21-26, 2025.
If interested, contact [email protected] for information on how to register.
For additional retreats and camp opportunities, please see previous posts.
Every Bit Helps
This restoration is done by you – the benefactors, and “all for the greater glory of God.”
To donate by check, please mail:
St. Irenaeus Chapel
2811 N 2nd Street
Clinton, IA 52732
To donate electronically, please email the chapel for the link:
Thursday, March 6, 2025
Fridays During Lent
Come pray the Stations of the Cross at St. Irenaeus Chapel.
The doors will open at 5:00 p.m. for private prayer on Friday evenings.
The Stations will be led beginning at 6:00 p.m. Booklets provided.
I Glory In My Infirmities
Let us be encouraged to carry our crosses well.
This sermon was shared by our local seminarian.
Get A Bird's Eye View
See the steeple project from above.
It is All Coming Together
The plumbing is buried and the steeple is being shaped.
The basement plumbing was finished. The piles of dirt were hauled out with wheelbarrows. Limestone fill was then hauled in and packed down. The trenches are now ready for concrete to be poured.
This space will be divided and become two family restrooms:
Here, you see what will become the ladies’ restroom:
Brackets were fabricated and 16 holes were drilled two-feet deep into the steeple wall to secure the cupola.
The rafters for the steeple transition roof are coming together.
It takes a lot of brain power to make a roof transition from an eight-sided cupola into a four-sided tower!
It will be an inverted hip roof.
Another Adventure Awaits
In addition to those opportunities posted three weeks ago.
Two Ignatian retreats and a vocation retreat are available for the men at Holy Angels Novitiate in Minnesota.
You Can Help
This work is expensive.
To donate by check, please mail:
St. Irenaeus Chapel
2811 N 2nd Street
Clinton, IA 52732
To donate electronically, please email the chapel for the link:
Wednesday, February 12, 2025
This Friday Night
Come In for the Rosary
Pray with your loved ones this Friday, February 14th – St. Valentine’s Day.
The doors will open at 5:00 p.m. for private prayer.
The Rosary will be led at 6:00 p.m.
Life Is A Contest of Love
Between God and us.
Hear short sermons by SSPX priests on the YouTube channel.
For a Solid Structure
The mortar is poured 80-feet up.
A template of the potential roofline is shown here. The top of the tower walls were also formed and gaps filled to prepare for the mortar.
This is one of the original threaded rods that holds the reinforced beams together and is anchored twenty-feet into the tower walls:
Here, the mortar has been poured. Once cured, the beams will be set down on top the now-level surface.
The area has been heated so the mortar materials can cure correctly. Warm air has been sent up from the basement, and concrete blankets are used for insulation.
The steeple is full of smiles.
Adventure Awaits
Schedules for summer opportunities are posted.
Summer Camps – for youth, hosted by priests and the Sisters of the SSPX.
Adult Retreats – Ignatian, vocations, virtue, Marian, and couple retreats.
Parish Missions and More Retreats – by Father Alphonsus, a Redemptorist.
Holy Hill Pilgrimage – a 33-mile walk in Wisconsin. Great for families.
Worldwide Jubiliee Pilgrimage – to Rome in August.
Regina Pilgrimages – more trips abroad, accompanied by SSPX priests.
Like What You See?
To donate by check, please mail:
St. Irenaeus Chapel
2811 N 2nd Street
Clinton, IA 52732
To donate electronically, please email the chapel for the link:
Saturday, February 1, 2025
Please Pray For Safety
For the men working up high on the restoration – All for the greater glory of God.
This week, a room was built around the steeple:
Fathers, sons and friends worked together.
In the basement, more concrete was jack-hammered and hauled out. In the cupola, long bolts were threaded through the beams.
The enclosure around the steeple makes a good working environment – providing shelter from wind, rain and snow. The temperature can also be controlled, which will be necessary for the mortar materials that will be used to level the limestone.
Enjoy a view above Clinton, Iowa at dusk – looking south:
Pray for a Priest
To be assigned in the future.
Pray For VOcations
On the First Sunday of each month.
By the prayers of the mothers in Lu, Italy, 323 vocations came out of their community.
O God, grant that one of my children may become a priest or religious! I myself want to live as a good Christian, and want to guide my children always to do what is right, so that I may receive the grace, O God, to be allowed to give You a holy priest or religious! Amen.
May parents, grandparents and Godparents raise up children so that they might say “yes” to His call.
This prayer is to be offered daily, along with Holy Communion on the First Sunday each month. Read more here.
Pray For The Dead
For Valentine's Day
A Friday Night Rosary
Bring your dearest in to pray on Friday, February 14th – St. Valentine’s Day.
The doors will open at 5:00 p.m. for private prayer.
The Rosary will be led at 6:00 p.m.
Like What You See?
To donate by check, please mail:
St. Irenaeus Chapel
2811 N 2nd Street
Clinton, IA 52732
To donate electronically, please email the chapel for the link:
Saturday, January 25, 2025
Saving the Steeple
Much is being done up in the air.
The effort to restore the north steeple can be validated in one picture:
Materials were designed and manufactured to facilitate the restoration:
Scaffolding was constructed. Materials were hauled up manually, with an elevator, and by a crane:
A view from the top:
Before starting the work, the men had to add a plank between the roof and the scaffolding.
(Can you spot the local seminarian?)
Metal C-channel will sandwich the old beams to strengthen the structure, but first, LVL beams, blocks, and jacks will be used to the level and re-set the steeple and cupola to the limestone tower.
Meanwhile, Inside...
Improvements are made to the structure and function of the basement.
The floor is being strengthened by extending the basement walls to the floor joists. This helps carry the weight of the newly leveled floor above, and the sturdy pews. The floor joists were sistered – an additional joist now runs alongside the original.
In the kitchen, a custodian closet was built. Throughout the basement, 3,000 feet of wire was pulled through conduit for new outlets and light switches at every doorway.
Plumbing was evaluated by camera. The concrete was cut to expose the broken pipes. New sewer pipes will soon accommodate twelve toilets to meet city codes.
Like What You See?
To donate by check, please mail:
St. Irenaeus Chapel
2811 N 2nd Street
Clinton, IA 52732
To donate electronically, please email the chapel for the link:
Monday, January 6, 2025
Happy Feast of the Epiphany
Journey in like the wise men and adore the Christ Child.
The nativity set was kindly donated, and a family volunteered to lovingly prepare the chapel for the joyous season!
Songs FrOm Seminarians
A Christmas concert from St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Virginia.
Can you spot the local seminarian?
(He is behind and to the left of the man in the red tie, at 1:06:36.)
Scheduled Confirmations
Confirmations in the USA are now posted here.
If you are interested in seeking the sacrament of Confirmation, please contact St. Irenaeus Chapel for more information.
Plus, a reminder from Archbishop Lefebvre, found in his Open Letter to Confused Catholics, on page 46:
Restoration Efforts
Improvements are being made, inside and out.
If you look beyond these boys playing in the yard, you’ll see improvements were made to the landscaping around the building last fall. The overgrown bushes were also removed from the front of the building and replaced with intention. Currently, scaffolding is being built for work on the north steeple.
For the inside, a new sound system has been ordered.
To Donate Online
If you’d like to donate electronically, please email the chapel for the link.