Post intelligent and civil comments. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the NLM
ONe words describes this little Church. Awesome!!!
Its being built by McCrery Architects http://www.mccreryarchitects.com/ and I also found the plans http://www.ldiline.com/select_fi...s.cfm?
proj=6967
I really like that baptistry set up -- in the back so that folks can bless themselves from the font, but not smack in the middle of the aisle so that it disrupts things. Also, having the smaller bank of pews next to it makes for an ideal area where the family can sit during the first part of the baptismal liturgy.
I also like the sacristy set up -- properly behind the sanctuary, but with a staircase so that Father and the servers can go downstairs and come back up into the narthex to begin the procession. That saves Father from a lot of distraction before Mass that comes from having a vestry in the narthex and the practically unavoidable need to greet people or be interrupted by well-wishers while vesting.
The confessionals look good but the door from the penitent to priest's side should be removed and a solid wall with removable screen put in, per my previous comments here: http://www.haloscan.com/comments...?
a=23397#247386
However, that is an easy fix since there is also provision for a priest's door into the meeting rooms that are outside his side of the confessional on both sides, where he can easily access the staircase (on one side anyhow), so as to sneak out quickly if hearing confessions for the Vigil Mass and then get over into the sacristy through the basement.
Nice foreseeing the presence of the coffin for a funeral and adjusting the pews accordingly.
Depending on how big the parish is, the bathrooms could be a little on the small side, though this could be fixed by having another set in the basement as well. It's nice to see them in a separate part of the facility.
In the narthex there are those two rooms that look like they might be walkin closets. I wonder if those are meant to be cry rooms? That is a nicer way to do it, in the sense that they are small and really meant for parents who need to stand in their briefly to calm the kid down, and not sit in there for the whole Mass.
Very nice!
I hope that the plans for the sanctuary here and not the ones linked to above are accurate. This sanctuary arrangement is much better for celebration of the EF than this one:
http://www.ldiline.com/showpdf.c...2.2.pdf&
dir=ARC
Given, however, that there is an adoration chapel, it's interesting to consider whether a sanctuary tabernacle is desireable in cases like this. There's been much discussion of the "two focuses" argument made by some (frequently to the left). One other thing that occurs to me is that there is a potential problem with the way the architecture focuses on the tabernacle when the tabernacle is empty... which the liturgy sometimes requires.
There's something very "Italian countryside" to this Church in it's style that makes it all the more attractive.
I'm glad these new Churches are going back to classical Italian, French, or Spanish models of Catholic style and not just fallen back on the nearly identical type of stone church that were bashed out in the 1950's with very little thought to classical architecture or Catholic heritage.
We have in the suburbs of Philadelphia about 20 parishes in my area, nearly each church practically the same, with very little variation.
They all date from the 1950's.
Seems like between the 1870's right up until WW II, there was still some thought and inspiration in Catholic Church building. Many of these Churches are treasure chests of Catholic liturgical art and beauty.
But after WW II, a "quickie blueprint" for parishes was developed, where so many look (with very little variations), practically the same.
I'm happy to see that this church breaks that mold...and we might be getting back to building Churches with creativity and beauty. Not almost like prefab.
And certainly no more of the box like, empty and sterile Protestant type models.
Thank God for that.
James McCrery, ah, of course. He is very talented. I wondered what he was working on presently. It is good to finally have his website!
Fr. BJ,
Actually, I rather like the theology behind the architectural arrangement of the font placed squarely between the narthex and the nave to remind us that our entrance into the body of Christ was through baptism.
Then it is in the way for processions. I think it is much better just to have a proper bapistry off to the side.
I attended St Anne's in the 70's when I lived in Charlotte.....the parish used the basement and the upper Church remained unfinished....Im happy to see this completition about to happen
Baptisteries in the narthex are quite novel; inside the main body of the church, placing them in the center of the rear is a bit less so, as one sees them occasionally in that position in English churches.
Using them as a backup holy water font is another matter and seems to me both unhygenic and undignified. There is also the problem of processions.
Placing the font somewhere towards the back but not smack dab in the center still permits the transformative imagery but within a more practical framework. Charles Borromeo, in that vein, suggests placing the font in the side-chapel closest to the entrance within the main nave of the church.
The placement of the font here is quite sensible as it does not impede processions, allows some visibility and also creates more of a distinct space for the font than it would be in the aisle.
Other good alternatives for smaller churches (where a separate space is impossible) would be placing it in a transept, or a side-aisle; enclosing it within a low railing would also be a good idea.
Very many of our old Churches in the Philadelphia area have a seperate Baptistry right off the nave of the church in a small room that openes off the right or left side aisle.
Our Cathedral-Basilica of SS Peter and Paul has a beautiful baptistry which I hope is still in use, but fear it is not.
Many of our Gothic-style parishes built anywhere from the 1870's thru the early 20th century have esquisite baptistries, totally off the main body of the church, and many finely decorated with grean marble fonts.
My parish had a nice side baptistry, but wreckovated it so that now what was the baptistry is a storage room for junk, and the baptismal font now sits in an alcove what used to be a confessional, with the water for the font constantly running/recirculating. It is surrounded by potted plants, and looks more like something you'd see in a garden nursery, or a upper class person's patio.
I don't like baptismal fonts down the center nave of the church, it impeeds a procession.
Some parishes for a time wreckovated their churches and installed fully immersable baptismal pools. I hate that concept. Reminds me too much of Protestant, although I don't think even Protestant churches-except some odd fundamentalist groups- have full sized baptismal pools in them.
There is a longer story to this project-- the pastor, Fr. Reid, is a young priest, and this parish had been the home of the progressives in the diocese for many years thanks to previous pastors. Fr. Reid has made heroic efforts and taken considerable heat personally to see this project through to this point. It was a case where people have left the parish, resigned from the building committee, etc., precisely because he sincerely followed his conscience to be able to answer before God someday that he spent the parish's money wisely and built something beautiful for God. They had another (actually 2) sets of designs already finished at considerable expense over the years, and he started yet again. So Kudos to Fr. Reid for his prayerful wisdom and courage.
@Fr. BJ:
Where did you see a basement?
The linked building plans show the first floor on ground level, directly above the foundations.
The stairs seem just to go up to the second floor facilities.
So, some folks left in a huff because their pastor dared to build a Catholic looking Church? Sounds like some double-knit dinosaurs can dish it out but can't take it. I can't imagine a rational Catholic leaving a parish when such a splendid ediface is about to me built for the greater glory of God. Tom
The entire church is the basement... it is built into a hill, and the basement opens at the lower end of the hill at the rear(the new "front" facade shown in the rendering). The upper church was never built, so the parish has been worshiping in the basement for its whole history. (The little rectangle next to the "altar servers room" is the foundation for the original front narthex which was actually built with no church behind it. This design keeps the "rear" entrance everyone is used to but gives it a proper entry as well as a higher roof profile.
I also understand they found a beautiful set of antique stained glass windows as well.
Noble simplicity!
sorry to post this as a comment, but I don’t have your email.
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