Riverside looks to the future as being the birthplace of Captain James Kirk, but St. Mary’s Catholic Church looks to the past as they are working on a preservation project.

Church Trustee John Sojka says the top priorities of this project are to restore the stained glass windows, which will cost around $235,000, “The windows are very unique, they were created by the Munich Art Studio of Chicago. The glass actually came across on a ship from Germany, and as I understand in 1896 the glass was shipped. But it wasn’t until approximately 10 years later that the Munich Art Studio of Chicago put the glass into our church. You know at that time they were one of the most popular and prevalent stained glass windows, especially in the Chicago area.”

The second priority in this project is to restore the church organ, which Sojka says is one of three in the U.S. that is still in its original form. They want to restore it using all original parts, which will cost around $72,000. Sojka says they would also like to install a new sound system in the church and build a storage shed. Sojka says some of the fundraising will come from members of the church, “Sometimes, in any congregation you agree to disagree on how to do things and so forth but the people of our community and the people of our parish, when it’s time to go they go. And they get the job done, so I’d like to thank them in advance because I know they’ll get behind this project, also.”

St. Mary’s Church is hosting a pancake breakfast fundraiser in Hall Park at Trekfest this Saturday from 7 a.m. to noon.