Quake-damaged cathedral faces millions in repairs

The iconic Washington National Cathedral, already struggling with
financial problems, faces millions of dollars in repair costs from the
damage inflicted by an August 23 earthquake. And nothing is covered by
insurance, according to a church official.

Clergy and a team of
architects and engineers spent the day after the 5.8-magnitude quake
that centered in Virginia assessing the condition of the huge cathedral.
They found significant damage, including fallen carved angels on the
church's roof, cracks in flying buttresses and missing finials from the
pinnacles of the central tower.

"We run a very tight budget here
at the cathedral, and we have had our financial challenges that we've
worked through very well," said the dean of the cathedral, Samuel Lloyd,
who recently announced that he was ending his six years there to take a
post in Boston in September. "But there is nothing in our budget that
would allow us to step up and do this," he said.