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.fn SAIN'r PAUL PIONEER PRESSZ�19/T P ' wr; 02ND F JANUARY 1997 SECTION THURSDAY 6 PAGES Bills kee p church's doors closed ■ Rising construction resulting from the long planning money. But our congregation has a COStS caught and construction timetable, the lot of people on Social Security. 140-member congregation doesn't We have a small congregation." parish unaware have the extra funds to complete The new church building will payments to the contractor and seat 250, about five times the CLARK MORPHEW STAFF WRITER subcontractors. number who normally attend wor- As a result, the completion of ship. It also has a large space for Abrand-new $3 million church the church and its opening date weddings and other gatherings. in Arden Hills is standing empty are still up in the air, according to Each year, the congregation because the congregation cannot its pastor, the Rev. Gregory Pod- holds festivals at Christmas and find $550,000 to pay off the last hurec. The congregation had hoped Easter featuring ethnic foods and bills. to be in the church in December. crafts, such as Ukrainian Easter • St. Katherine's Ukrainian Ortho- "We will open as soon as the eggs. That's one of the ways the dox Church, known as Sts. bank gives us the money," Pod- congregation raises money. Volodymyr and Olga Ukrainian hurec said. "In my opinion, a cou- The trouble is, they can't get Orthodox when it was located in ple of weeks, maybe a month. I'm into the new kitchen until they pay St. Paul, has spent five years and not sure." the last bills, church leaders say. almost $2.5 million to build the "We try to raise the money or "The contractor keeps the key in five-domed worship and fellowship borrow from the bank," said his pocket," Paczkowski said. space just off Minnesota 96. parishioner Alexander Paczkowski, "When we pay him, he will open But because of price increases "but they want to have co-signers — five or six people with a lot of CHURCH CONTINUED ON 66 P. CHURCH $1 million, but price increases raised the cost considerably. The congregation "planned five V CONTINUED FROM 1B years ago and waited too long, and everything went up," Podhurec and let us in. As soon as we can said. "That is the problem." use the kitchen, we could raise Over the years as its numbers some money." dwindled. the church tried to unite The church building project was with other area Ukrainian congre- started by two sisters, Vera Tan- gations, but to no avail. Now that asichuk and Neonilla Maeser, who St. Katherine's has an opportunity gave the congregation more than for growth and new life, the debt $1.5 million to buy land and begin stands as a massive barrier to the construction. Their only, stipula- future. tion was that the building and "«'e tried to talk to our credi- grounds be handicapped-accessible tors." Paczkowski said. "You look so their mother, longtime parishio- across the parking lot and the ner Katherine Zaslayetz. could at- church is finished outside but in- tend worship. side it's not. I don't know what • The congregation raised another vital happen. i