In time to commemorate the church's 125th anniversary, the parish celebrated the culmination of an extensive restoration project that has replaced crumbling plaster and threadbare carpets with freshly glossed pews and refurbished walls.

”What we have here in this church is a gift from above,“ Rev. Roy Doner told the standing-room-only crowd inside one of Colusa's oldest buildings.

Sunday's special Mass capped off about two years and more than $1 million in projects for the church which, in addition to the church upgrades, included the construction of a new parish hall this year and the purchase of a new rectory.

The dramatically improved sanctuary, however, took center stage.

”I think it's great,“ said Mark Shulthise, a church member with his wife since 1993. ”We got married in the church, and we've seen what it was like before.“

The way Doner and others describe the Colusa facility, it wasn't a pretty sight. The church, which began construction in 1880 and opened its doors the next year, was in such disrepair that the walls were falling apart, the roof was leaking and bats regularly made messes inside.

When Doner joined the church in 2001, he said, he made it his mission to breathe new life into the aging house of worship.

”I knew it was going to take more than a magic wand,“ he said.

The effort kicked off in 2003 when the church spent $100,000 on a new roof. The next year, Doner and other parishioners began the meticulous task of renovating the sanctuary.

It quickly turned into a project in which many church members lent a major hand toward the refurbishment, donating their time, resources and elbow grease to the process. Church members spent many long days hammering away at plaster, sanding down the pews, ripping up the carpet or painting the windows.

Even the scaffolding required to complete the project was homegrown. The lumber came from property owned by Doner's parents, and the priest and several members of the Knights of Columbus built the temporary structure.

In the end, the church's extreme makeover gave the walls a new brightness and the pews a welcome sheen. New biblical oil paintings line the sanctuary in frames Doner helped build.

Bishop William Weigand, who heads the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento and led Sunday's service, said he not only was pleased with the church's upgrades but also with the amount of parishioner involvement.

”I think it's beautiful. It's got a lot of history,“ he said after the service. ”One of the reasons I sent (Doner) here was because I thought he could figure it out and fix it. Š The product is great, but the process is wonderful.“

During the renovations, the church also erected St. Bernadette's Hall several blocks away, a project that cost about $1.6 million, Doner said. The church started holding weekend masses there earlier this year so the restoration project could pick up steam.

All of the church projects were made possible through fundraising and a loan from the diocese, Doner said.

As the Sunday service concluded, Doner, Weigand and 14 other priests made their way outside to visit with the roughly 400 people who attended.

Walking down the church's front stairs, Doner looked to the bishop and smiled.

”We did it,“ he said.

Appeal-Democrat reporter Daniel Thigpen can be reached at 749-4713. You may e-mail him at dthigpen@appeal-democrat.com.