Not on this side. The other side.

The pastor of St. Joseph Church hasn’t lived in his parish’s rectory since he arrived more than six months ago.

When the Rev. Terry Steffens arrived at St. Joseph last July, he discovered severe damage within the rectory caused by more than 13 years of neglect and accumulated animal waste, according to a letter Steffens sent parishioners this fall. Since July, he has been living at St. Michael’s rectory in Schererville, awaiting renovations at St. Joseph. Those renovations should be complete by mid-March, Steffens said.

In his letter to parishioners, Steffens described the items destroyed and needing replacement, including desks, chairs, cabinets, doors and linoleum flooring that had asbestos backing. The asbestos in the flooring means hazardous materials experts have to remove it.

The letter said Bishop Dale Melczek had advised Steffens to have the rectory fumigated before he moved in. Steffens told the parish the fumigator hired to clean the rectory over a six-week period said he had become sick to his stomach from cleaning one of the rectory’s rooms that was heavily saturated with feces from dogs, rabbits, hamsters and guinea pigs.

…A staff member at St. Joseph also did not want to speak about the rectory or its previous pastor, and Diocese of Gary spokesman the Rev. Brian Chadwick declined to comment specifically about St. Joseph.

In his letter, Steffens wrote: "It is important to remember that the destruction of the … rectory could have been prevented if better judgment had been exercised."

Calls seeking comment made to St. Joseph’s previous pastor, the Rev. Mark Pavlina, were not answered. Chadwick said the diocese has policies in place to handle possible personnel issues and, as far as he knew, Pavlina would not be facing any diocesan discipline.