St. Catherine of Siena Student Center "closed" but services continue

by Benjamin Shane Evans | July 28, 2026

At approximately 7 a.m. on Wednesday, July 15, St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church and Student Center’s “deluge” fire suppression system was activated, which caused water to flow for approximately 15 minutes and left nearly three inches of standing water throughout the building.

According to St. Catherine's pastor Fr. Dave Fleming, there was no fire and the cause of the system activation remains under investigation.

Professional restoration contractors were contacted and arrived within an hour so that by the late afternoon, all standing water had been removed. After the water had been removed, the building began to be dried out with industrial fans, heaters, and a large truck-mounted dehumidifier. Parish and student volunteers assisted in moving materials, tearing up carpets, and removing items like wooden church chairs, a baby grand piano, computers, and other electronics, so that the damage could be fully assessed.

During an introductory announcement to the parish during Mass on Sunday, Fr. Fleming said that they will most likely remove all drywall in the building, though the full extent of damage is still under review by insurance adjusters, though he said he expects significant losses. 

“It is a day-to-day evolution of the process,” he said. “We’re trying to be as thoughtful and intentional as we plan for next steps moving forward.”

Because of the damage, Fr. Fleming said that St. Catherine’s building is closed for the “foreseeable future,” though essential parish life continues. Sunday Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. at the Sussman Theater in the Olmstead Center on the Drake University campus under an agreement with the academic institution. The first Mass was held on Sunday, July 26.

Additionally, parish staff are “reimagining” plans as the academic year approaches.

Coordinator of campus ministry Megan Schultz said that the first weeks of school are crucial in welcoming new students into the parish and ensuring they have a positive community to stabilize and nurture them.

“The friends that a student meets in their first two weeks to a month on campus are the ones that shape their college experience,” Schultz said. “We typically have so much outreach specifically because we know it’s such a crucial point for students to meet people who share their faith and hopefully let that be their community in college. For us to be doing outreach, but to maybe be unable to invite them to our church, it feels almost like a homelessness.”

However, Schultz said that this is an opportunity to show “a clear representation of our universal church” to students, because even though the “physical church can’t host right now, our big capital ‘C’ church is still so present.”

“It could be really powerful to not invite our students to cross the street, but for us as a staff to cross the street and go directly to them,” Schultz said.

Fr. Fleming also said that those from the wider community who want to help should pray and “keep positive.”

“We try to recognize that while this is a catastrophic event for us, that it’s also an opportunity for God’s grace to come in and to use it,” he said. “Maybe it’s part of God’s bigger picture, helping us to get all the more renewed in our focus and mission as a parish, and to keep that sensibility alive in our hearts.”