With the 100th anniversary of Buffalo's Holy Cross Parish occurring this year, the church recently underwent some repair work to keep the building's foundation stable for years to come.

Msgr. David Gallivan has spent a total of 20 years at Holy Cross, with the last 15 as pastor, before retiring at the beginning of February. Father James Fee, OMI, succeeded Msgr. Gallivan, but the latter was responsible for moving ahead on much of the repair work done over the past year.

While other church renovations were more extensive, Holy Cross did go a little farther with its repairs, mainly to fix some of the water damage that has accumulated in the building over the years. The roof of Holy Cross was replaced a decade ago and is still in good shape, but some leaks came through gutters, flashing, windows and even the west side wall that faces the winds coming off nearby Lake Erie.

"We wanted to make sure the walls were dried out and we had the finances for it, so we decided to go ahead" Msgr. Gallivan said. "The anniversary gave us the incentive we needed to be more ambitious with the repairs."

There was some interior work also done at Holy Cross by Bryan Brothers painting company. John Bryan worked at the parish for six weeks, replastering the ceiling and walls.

"We had to skim the whole ceiling because there was a million cracks because of the water damage," Bryan said. "It was badly in need of a restoration."

Bryan Brothers also marbleized the columns standing on the parish altar.

"It's an absolutely gorgeous altar," Bryan said. "Everybody was very happy with it."

Finally, a statue of Our Lady of Fatima was repaired and restored, thanks to a $2,000 donation from the Msgr. Richard DiAmico Foundation.

While he is no longer pastor of Holy Cross, Msgr. Gallivan hopes to enjoy some of the parish's anniversary celebrations after he returns from a few weeks stay in Florida.