Damaged National Cathedral needs to find its footing, funding

From Columbus-

Its vaulted nave has been the site of presidential funerals and inaugural prayer services for almost a century. Woodrow Wilson is entombed here, as is Helen Keller. Outside, protruding from the intricate stonework of the building’s northwest tower, a limestone Darth Vader watches over the sprawling grounds.

If the United States had a national church, this would be it. Established by congressional charter, the Washington National Cathedral has long been a prominent fixture in the life of the nation’s political elite, who come for rituals of celebration and mourning.

But these days, the scaffolding draped over the more-than-300-foot-tall tower and the fencing around much of its base tell a different story.

Almost four years after a magnitude 5.8 earthquake shook the site, the National Cathedral is struggling to piece itself back together, physically and financially, even as contractors put the finishing touches on the $10 million first phase of repairs to the interior.

More here-

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/national_world/2015/07/04/damaged-church-needs-to-find-its-footing-funding.html