Homily 3rd Sun. Easter Sanctuary Renovation
“We gave you strict orders to stop teaching in that name” – i.e., the Name of Jesus. These were the words of the High Priest, who was speaking on behalf of the Sanhedrin – the high council of Jewish leaders who had urged Pontius Pilate to crucify Jesus, and succeeded in having Our Lord killed by “hanging him on a tree.”
What was the response of Peter and the Apostles? “We must obey God rather than men.” And they would continue to preach and proclaim Jesus as Lord and Savior, crucified, but now risen from the dead.
As baptized members of Christ’s Mystical Body, the Church, each one of us, in our own particular state of life – whether married, single or celibate, are called to proclaim Christ to others, to bring others to a knowledge and love of Jesus Christ, and along with it the fullness of the truth of our Catholic Faith, which taken as a whole shines forth in radiant beauty. Why is this? Because the truth is beautiful.
Formation in the beauty of the truth of our Catholic Faith begins at the parish level. And this formation includes our church building, especially its furnishings and artwork, all of which should assist in communicating to parishioners the beauty of the truth of our Catholic faith.
Beauty itself, in works of art, has a special power to bring people to a deeper appreciation of the truths of our faith. St. John Paul II, in his Letter to Artists written in 1999, teaches that “In a sense, art is a kind of visual Gospel, the concrete mode of catechesis.”
Precisely how does sacred art act as a kind of “visual Gospel”? Each week the Gospel is proclaimed and those in church profess their faith in the articles of the Creed, and when those very truths of the faith take concrete form in works of Christian art that surround them – statues and paintings, sacred music, and architecture – all of these become a kind of visual Gospel by which the faithful can see, hear and touch the mysteries of our faith, and these all inspire a deepening of faith and render concrete – through sight and sound – the truths we believe.
Sacred art promotes a “divine pedagogy,” or form of teaching, that encompasses the entire person – the body with its senses, and the soul, which is all the more needed today in our culture with its emphasis on the visual: TV, movies, the Internet – which mostly presents secular, worldly images.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church(2502) teaches that: “Genuine sacred art draws man to adoration, to prayer, and to the love of God - Creator, Savior and Sanctifier.”
Great art and its beauty leads one from seeing, to contemplation, and then to adoration of God, veneration of the Saints, and deeper appreciation of the truths of our faith.Sacred art is an earthly glimpse into heavenly realities.
This is precisely why the Catholic Church throughout its 2000 year history has promoted great art in its church buildings, where people come to worship. Just think of the great basilicas in Rome, like St. Peter’s, which literally take your breath away when you enter into them.
The beauty in sacred art attracts, inspires and instructs in the truths of our Catholic Faith. For example, think of our statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. For generations this statue has helped to form the faith and deepen devotion to Our Lady and the Christ Child for people in our parish; this work of art has had a great catechetical, or teaching, influence, and has inspired great devotion to Our Lady.
This leads me into my primary topic for today, our sanctuary renovation, which I proposedto the parish a number of months ago.
If you will recall, the proposal included the following: a newly constructed altar under our arch, as a more fitting throne for the tabernacle, in which Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in the Eucharist would be reposed, and on which would be enthroned the current statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel with the Christ Child – so she would be in the center of our church, to honor her as our patroness – and in the old Mount Carmel Church, this statue was on the altar in the middle of the church: you can see this in a photo of the old church in the brochures we are making available today.
In addition to the new altar under the arch, we proposed a number of paintings in our sanctuary: two murals – to the right of the arch, an image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel handing the Brown Scapular to St. Simon Stock; and on the left side, an image of the prophets Elijah and Elisha, the historic founders of the Carmelite Order, showing Elijah a fiery chariot handing off his mantle to Elisha, his successor. These two murals provide an earthly glimpse into eternal realities.
Other paintings were proposed:10 Carmelite Saintsto go across the top of the sanctuary; to name just two: St. Therese, the Little Flower, and St. Teresa of Avila, the great mystic and Doctor of the Church. The Saints inspire us – to imitate their lives of holiness on earth in order to join them in Heaven. And angels in the dome.
At the outset, I’ll say this: I was never on any “personal crusade” to undertake a renovation of our sanctuary, and this is why I proposed the idea, first to the parish pastoral Council, then to the Ladies Society, and then to all the parishioners at weekend Masses. While a small number of people wanted no change, the great majority of parishioners supported the proposal – either with Carmelite Saints and angels painted, or without.
In the months that followed our parish pastoral and finance councils discussed this proposal extensively, along with a renovation committee consisting of a number of parishioners. We decided that it would be best to pursue our sanctuary renovation in two phases. The first phase is the construction of the new altar under the arch, to which at this point we are fully committed.
After the first phase, when the altar is completed and we see how it looks, we will decide whether to fully commit to the second phase, the paintings: of the two murals, the 10 Carmelite Saints, etc. Whether we commit and go forward with phase 2 will depend in part on the funds that we raise for the project. Our parish pastoral council will assess both the amount of donations and our parish financial position in order to make that determination. We have the money to complete phase 1, the altar, but we did not want to commit the bulk of our parish savings to complete phase 2, and are hoping for donations to pay for a good part of it.
A few months ago I, along with Stephen Cascio, our design artist for the project, proposed our plans before the archdiocesan building commission, which makes recommendations to Archbishop Listecki. The Archbishop has approved our proposal, and has given permission to undertake a fundraising effort of $400,000 to help to pay for it. Our fundraising effort begins today.
At the entrance to the church you will see a board with proposals for phase 1 and phase 2 of our sanctuary renovation. As I said, at this time Phase 2 is conditional.And as I explained to the Archbishop, we realize that we can be flexible with phase 2 and if we think funds are insufficient to complete the entire project, we maynot proceed with parts of it; for example, the 8 angels in the sanctuary dome, at a totalestimated cost of $80,000 ($10,000 for each angel), and the 10 Carmelite Saints, the total estimated cost of which is about $150,000 ($15,000 for each saint).
Also available today are brochures which explain the sanctuary renovation and the funding of it – how there are multiple ways to donate towards it. One may make a donation for the overall project (phase 1 and phase 2), or for a specific work of art. I’ll say this: a donation has already been received for the tabernacle in the new altar.
Someone may be willing to sponsor an entire piece of art, for example, one of the Carmelite Saints. If people pledge money for a certain work of art that ends up not being done (e.g., angels in the dome), they will have the option to have their money returned, as all the donations will be specifically earmarked and held in a separate account.
In the brochures you will find a separate, detachable card which specifies different ways to donate: by check, by credit card, or one may go online –in just a few days we have a separate account set up through our Mount Carmel website on which people can make donations.People have the option of making a donations all at once, or in a series of payments over a number of months.
We were hoping that our altar would be finished by our parish festival, in early July, but things always move a little more slowly than planned, so now we are hoping to have it done by the end of the year.
I ask your prays as we go forward with this effort to render our sanctuary more beautiful with sacred art. And I will be at the front entrance of the church to answer questions for anyone who has them.
I’ll end by quoting from a piece Fr. Richetta wrote in the Knights of Columbus newsletter this month: “There was a time when people entered a Catholic Church andknew it was something unique and special. They sensed it was a place suited for worship, and nothing else. There was, at the center, an altar for sacrifice, a tabernacle telling us Jesus is present, and a shelter for the Saints. It was not a hall just for listening to sermons, or singing hymns. It was a place for sacrifice, and to worship God.”
Let us pray that God bless this undertaking, in order to give more glory to Him, to our patroness, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and to all the saints, through the beauty of sacred art.
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