Ramblings
I really do not know why I am being so sporadic in blogging. My previous assignment was a bigger parish and kept me very busy. However, I think between the two worship sites, settling into a new assignment, and, frankly, dealing with the grief after my father’s death, it seems as if my days are just as busy here.
I do want to dig out my digital camera and take some pictures of the two church buildings in this parish, just so folks who are not familiar with them can see them. Architecturally, they are very different. St. Anthony’s (which, I admit, I have a personal bias for, since it is where I was baptized) is a huge, Romanesque church that seats about a 1000 on the floor, and 200 more in the choir loft. The walls are a pinkish marble, about six feet up the walls. It has mosaics for the Stations, and a beautiful sanctuary. St. Anthony’s is basically a city parish (OK, technical the city of Trenton is across the street, and the church is in the township), and it was built at a time when most people in the neighborhood were Catholic and would walk to church. In other words, it has a small parking lot. If we knocked down the school building we could have more parking, but we value the rental income from the school building (the Diocese of Trenton, due to falling enrollment, closed all the parish schools in the city of Trenton, and opened a regional school, run by the diocese, called Trenton Catholic Academy; the regional HS is also part of the academy).
Our Lady of Sorrows church started as basically a mission for the farmers in the Mercerville area of Hamilton Township. I am not an architect, but I would call its style English/Tudor gothic; with very noble wooden arches (I think they would be called trusses). The stain-glass windows are of an English style, representing the sorrows of Our Lady. I am not sure when, but I think in the 60s, the population of Mercerville grew rapidly, with many of the farmers selling their property for housing developments. The Catholic population grew, and the church became to small, so wings were added to the building; creating roughly a Tau-cross in design. I am told that a simple definition of architecture is “form and function.” For whatever reason (IMHO) the wings emphasized function over form. The ceilings of the wings are very low compared to the nave of the church, and they are to the side of the altar. In saying Mass a good percentage of the congregation is not in my sight, unless I turn to the right and left, and even then it feels as if I am looking down a tunnel. Even many long time parishioners of OLS have commented that they wished that there was something to do to “fix” the architecture of the wings. My boss, is looking into this, and we have gotten preliminary drawings from an architect, and they are resplendant. The architect impressed me because he respected, what he called the “good bones,” of the church and wants to work with those “good bones.” IMHO, too often people just want to tear down and build something new (and not just with churches), instead of respecting the heritage of what was.
In other ramblings; I made a trip to St. Louis with my mother to celebrate my niece’s First Holy Communion. Brigit (my niece and goddaughter) was so excited about receiving Jesus for the first time in the Eucharist. She has what she calls her “holy collection” — made up of prayer cards and statues. The drive out and back was something of a retreat for my mother and I for we listened to a WONDERFUL series of conferences by Fr. Philip Bochanski, a priest of the Oratory in Philadelphia, entitled “Deadly Sins, Living Virtue.” I encourage all to download and listen to these wonderful talks.
OK, I need to prepare a homily, and a discussion on what’s wrong with the Da Vinci Code. More later.
