A Costa Mesa church will finally break ground next week on a long-overdue project to create more restrooms, after the price tag for the renovation skyrocketed during the pandemic and fundraising efforts stalled.
Saint Joachim Catholic Church, which was built in 1965, has a capacity for about 750 people, but only one bathroom each for men and women.
According to Parish Director Ree Taylor, other restrooms are available in the church’s parish hall, but such can be inconvenient for the disabled or for families with children.
Back in 2019, church officials received an estimate of $600,000 to construct a new 62-foot by 20-foot building specifically for the restrooms and started fundraising, asking parishioners to donate to the cause. Any extra could go toward upgrading the church’s heating and air conditioning system and for the installation of solar lights.
“Our initial pledges told us that we were going to reach the $1 million mark,” Taylor said.
But, as the church was shut down in 2020 due to COVID restrictions, donations dwindled. And then, the next year, hackers attacked the church’s computer database—demanding a $100,000 ransom, which church officials refused.
Not only did it then face a financial setback to purchase new computers, but it lost, even more importantly, its accounting of parishioners’ pledges for the new bathrooms. At the time, it had received about $500,000.
And then in Jan. 2022 the church received an updated cost estimate for the renovations. It had jumped to $900,000, due to an increase in the cost of materials, supply chain shortages, as well as labor cost increases—an economic trifecta brought on by COVID-19.
Since then, the church has made up the difference, borrowing from savings and incrementally bringing in $25,000 in 2022 during its 75th anniversary, and passing special collection plates reaping another $24,000, Father Michael Hanifin said.
Tacos were even sold on weekends after mass for the effort, which he jokingly called “tacos for toilets.”
Three neighboring parishes also came to the rescue donating nearly $200,000.
“When I was asking for money, [priests at the parishes] said ‘We’ve seen those bathrooms. This project is long overdue,’” he said. “They felt my pain, and so they were more than willing to help.”
The new building will have one men’s restroom with two stalls and three urinals; and one new women’s restroom with five stalls. The facilities will contain baby changing stations, have touchless fixtures, and be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The new building also promises to be a bonus for church weddings. Previously, a bride would have to walk from a dressing room through the church full of wedding guests to enter the nearest bathroom.
They will now be able to use the new building’s bathroom area, which has private access from the dressing area, allowing her to reveal her wedding gown only when she walks down the aisle, not towards a toilet.
