Parishioners at the Queenship of Mary church in Plainsboro will be back in the building they call home in time for Easter on Sunday, April 24.
Work to repair the roof of the church, which had partially collapsed in January, is near completion, and church officials are expected to move items back into the church in time for mass on Saturday, April 9, according to the church’s website.
“We’re going home!” church officials wrote on the church’s website homepage.
The roof collapse left the building deemed unsafe by Plainsboro Township officials in January, and the church has been holding Mass at St. Joseph’s Seminary on Mapleton Road during repairs.
The collapse occurred after the piece of steel, which held two support beams that came to a peak above the church’s sanctuary, broke. As a result, the roof came crashing down by two or three inches, but it fell against the back wall, which held it up and kept it from completely falling. Officials installed a shoring system from the basement, through the kitchen, through the sanctuary, and to the roof. The sanctuary floor needed to be dismantled piece-by-piece to enable the scaffolding to be built as part of the shoring system.
Since that time, the parish hired a project manager and engineer and posted updates on construction on a weekly basis. By mid-March, the church had raised its roof back to its appropriate position, and by March 17, a new steel hanger was installed to hold the work in place. Crews then worked to install the new sanctuary and make other updates and repairs to the church, according to the website.
During the ordeal, most of the church’s meetings and events were being held in places like Town Center Elementary School, Princeton Alliance Church, Nativity of Our Lord Church, St. Paul Church, St. Augustine Church, the Wyndhurst Clubhouse, and the homes of parishioners, among other places.
