Posted September 3, 2013

Tall metal scaffolding not only fills but surrounds New York’s famed St. Patrick’s Cathedral. What looks to the uninitiated like a zealous cleaning job is actually a painstaking $177 million restoration.

If all goes according to plan, worshippers should appreciate how magnificent the iconic church looks when the work is finished without identifying anything that is truly different or out of place.

  • Riggers stand on a scissor lift as they inspect the restored bronze doors at the main entrance at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York following their installation Aug. 14. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)

  • Visitors sit amid scaffolding inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York Aug. 14. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)

  • A statue of St. Isaac Jogues is seen on one of the two restored bronze doors at the main entrance of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York following their installation Aug. 14. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)

  • A statue of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is seen on one of the two restored bronze doors at the main entrance of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York following their installation Aug. 14. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)

  • Scaffolding is positioned near an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York Aug. 14. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)

  • Scaffolding covers the exterior of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York Aug. 14. The cathedral is undergoing a $177-million restoration. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)

  • Helen Mulcaster of Perth, Australia, prays near scaffolding inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York Aug. 14. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)