Mary Queen of Angels in Fort Scott before its brick walls were laid. (Courtesy photo)

With the dedication of the new Mary Queen of Angels Church in Fort Scott scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 23, Fr. Yancey Burgess and his parishioners are keeping the workers in their prayer intentions.

The new church’s interior is now covered with drywall, the pastor said during a telephone update last week.

“The electrical is now hooked up. The air conditioners are in place but not yet hooked up and the trim carpenters are expected to begin working the second week in July,” he said.

The new church will look very much like the church that was razed because of heavy fire damage from a lightning strike in August of 2022.

A feature all parishioners will remember is the old church’s magnificent rose window. It has been placed in the new church along with a polycarbonate sheet to protect it.

Fr. Burgess said he was showing photos of the rose window to some parishioners. One said: “It looks really nice. What did you do with the old one?”

Fr. Burgess said he told him it was the old one but that it hadn’t been cleaned in 100 years. “The little darting around the window is rose but you couldn’t see that.”

When construction is complete it’s going to look like the old church, he said, but it will be much better – everything will have been cleaned, redesigned, or updated.

The other windows are waiting for the bricklaying to be completed, Fr. Burgess said, adding that there are some logistical challenges that have to be overcome. “So it’s kind of a race to see what we can get done and how fast they can get it done.”