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Saturday, June 27, 2020

BEFORES AND AFTERS

Was it wise to hide the window half way?


Was it wise to move the ambo and baptismal font?

Was it wise to hide the Crucifix mural?

9 comments:

Fr. Michael Kavanaugh said...

#1 works, and the finished product looks good, but it is a shame to have lost half of the roundel portion of the window.

#2 The fint location means for very cramped celebrations of the sacrament. Where were it and the ambo before?

#3, like #1, works, but there has been a loss. Devotees of St. Jospeh will, however, be pleased.

TJM said...

#1 The finished result looks pleasing. This must have been a fairly modern church to begin with, since the rounded window does not appear to be very traditional. I wonder how it affects the lighting having it covered up?

#2 The sanctuary is much more pleasing and less cluttered without the ambo and the baptistery

#3 The result is more aesthetically pleasing, although it is a shame the crucifix mural could not have been preserved and integrated into the reredos

Anonymous said...

My understanding is that no 3 was an attempt to restore something lost after Vatican II (the mural was part of an earlier attempt to fix that renovation). The original reredos was similar in shape/size, but far more ornate with woodwork framing the two side doors.

All of them work from an aesthetic standpoint.

NAK

Anonymous said...

The first photo is from the Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem in Charles Town, WV. I just spent a week in WV visiting a friend and have been in this church a few times. Yes, it was a modern design and I think the new altar and reredos is an improvement.

Anonymous said...

#1: I would have liked to see the whole window and think the new altar should have been designed with that window in mind. Could the altar have been pulled forward a bit so the lower portion of the window isn't fully blocked?
#2: Removing the baptismal font from that location is an improvement. I am curious where the ambo was moved to. I am also curious where the altar rail is.
#3 Blocking the crucifix mural (and the other murals) depends on the quality of those murals. If they are true fresco's, it is a shame that they are blocked. If they are simply wallpaper reproductions I have no problem with them being removed.

John Nolan said...

Were the accretions in the second set removed or just 'photoshopped out'?

Putting the baptismal font 'up front' is a modern fad. Bugnini and Co. wanted sacraments and sacramentals incorporated into the Mass, so the much older tradition and symbolism of placing the font/baptistery at the west end was discarded.

TJM said...

John Nolan,

I don't know if this occurred in England but for a while there was a fad in the US to have baptisms performed during Sunday Mass. It appears this has largely died out since all 3 of my grandchildren have had private baptisms.

John Nolan said...

According to official guidelines baptism of infants should take place on a Sunday and may take place during Mass, provided this doesn't happen too often. I have occasionally come across it in the past, and like other recent Roman innovations it has spread to the Anglican church.

Confirmation and matrimony (if there is a nuptial Mass) are incorporated into the Mass, unless the older rites are used. I have yet to see people being wheeled into Mass for the Sacrament of the Sick (fingers crossed that they don't peg out before the end of the homily - people have been known to die of boredom), but I dare say it's happened in some places.

ByzRus said...

#1. Agree with Fr. MJK. Works well, shame to have lost the lower portion of the roundel window.

#2. Looks better without the baptismal font or the ambo with the display rack. Too cluttered.

#3 Shame to have lost the mural but, wow, look what they gained!