April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
LOUDONVILLE PARISH
New look lauded at Christ Our Light
Parish officials say the changes make the church's sanctuary more intimate and enhance the experience of celebrating Mass as a community.
"It's like we sit down at our dining room table," said Deacon Dick Thiesen, parish life director, of the new horseshoe-shaped pew setup, with an octagonal altar in the center that's now closer to the people.
"We gather as family," he said. "It enables us to enter more deeply, more profoundly, more reverently into the Eucharist. No one is further back from the sanctuary than nine rows. It reflects who we are as God's children: By virtue of our baptism, we are all co-presiders."
The sanctuary features a "corona" or bright circle of light over the altar; the wall that used to serve as the backdrop for the old altar is now a "reredos," an artistic decoration made up vertical strips of oak from the old pews. The baptismal font was replaced and moved from the gathering space to the worship space.
During baptisms, "it's as if the church is enfolding that person," Deacon Thiesen said. "It makes God's all-encompassing love evident through the architecture."
There's even a 360-degree camera over the font to record and live-stream special sacraments.
"We've got a lot of homebound parishioners who can feel disconnected. We wanted to have the capability to bring their parish Mass to them," the deacon explained. "This is really an investment in future generations."
Another modification was a sound-muffling glass partition - adorned with Jerusalem crosses - separating the gathering space from the worship space. Audio of the Mass is piped into a room in the gathering space that has rocking chairs for families with children: "We didn't want to lock kids away," Deacon Thiesen noted.
The combination of glass walls, new porcelain tile floors and metal ceiling is balanced out acoustically with new upholstery on the pews.
Parishioners have been responding positively to the new look and feel of Christ Our Light, the deacon said.
"They can't believe it's the same space," he said. "It had been 40 years since it was last renovated. It was dark. It was energy-inefficient. It was liturgically bland. The sanctuary space was just one big, flat platform."
Planning for the renovations started in 2013 with input from a "master plan advisory team," the Diocese's Architecture and Building Commission, an architectural firm, a liturgical furnishings company, three sacramental ministers and Rev. David Noone, the now-retired pastor.
Everyone agreed people needed to feel closer together, "to recognize God in our presence in one another as the body of Christ," Deacon Thiesen said. "[We wanted to] foster full, active and conscious participation in the Eucharist" in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council.
There are now about 150 fewer seats in the church, but chairs can be added between the last pews and the glass walls for holidays or if membership grows.
Other alterations to the church include wheelchair-accessible pews; a refurbished chapel with new carpeting, air conditioning and heating units, a new ceiling and lights; a new electronic sign; projectors to display images and hymn lyrics on the walls; a surveillance system; a new shrine area using old statues and icons; and modifications to the heating system.
Christ Our Light was formed by the 2009 merger of St. Francis de Sales and Our Lady of Mercy parishes, whose sale funded the renovations. Planners made sure to include elements of both former parishes into the new look: A window of Mary from OLM is housed in the wall of the vesting sacristy, and part of the altar from St. Francis is on the wall near the stairway.
"We wanted to celebrate going forward, but we also wanted to honor our past," Deacon Thiesen said. "People say it's modern, but it's also very ancient because we're going back to our roots - the earliest churches, with people gathering around a table."[[In-content Ad]]
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