Rotting church bell towers may crumble

SOCORRO (KRQE) - Time is ticking away to repair the bell towers in one of the oldest churches in New Mexico; if it’s not repaired soon it could mean 400 years in history could come crumbling down.

Every hour of the day the bells toll at San Miguel parish in Socorro, NM, but the bells may soon chime for the last time. The towers holding up century old bells is rotting away.

“The bell towers themselves are actually collapsing in on themselves,” Father Andy Pavlak said.

The strong plaster outside the towers is deceiving. On the inside sit wood frames that hold the bells in place.

The frames are crumbling after a century of rain water and melted snow ate away at the wood.

The problem is also eating away the church's budget. The cost for repairs is $56,000.

“It would totally deplete all of our resources that we have in our building funds,” Father Andy said.

For now, parishioners seem to be the only hope in saving the towers. Yet, with less than 1,000 who attend mass regularly, the cost per family may be too much.

“Being the third, the third poorest county in the country, means that we're pulling from a very small pool of resources to begin with,” Father Andy said.

Father Andy said the families in Socorro have done it before.

“Even though we're a poor community the people here are generous. They built this church, time after time after time, the layers of adobe really have the hand prints of the people of this community,” he said.

The only problem is time.

“I have no doubt that we could do it, it's just going to take a long time do you have that time to wait that's the question,” Father Andy said.

The answer may mean these children will be the last generation to see the towers standing.

“Eventually they'll fall down, the church could fall down, and 400 years of history in this community could be in serious jeopardy,” Father Andy said.

The problem may get worse before it gets better. Father Andy said until they tear into the towers, they won’t know if they can be repaired or if they'll have to replace both structures.