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March 16, 2006
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Behind the scenes, you'll find liturgical design consultants
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Fr. John Hemsing, pastor of St. Clare Parish in Wind Lake, uses a censer to bless and purify the interior of the newly dedicated St. Clare Church in 2005. Incensation of the altar and the church is part of the rite of dedication of new churches. (Catholic Herald photo by Sam Lucero) |
Dialogue is key to successful projects
Similarly, dialogue is the key in any successful building project for Milwaukee consultant Dennis Horbinski, of Horbinski Design Group, who strives to build community by encouraging healthy communication among the members.
“The community of the faithful is more important than bricks and mortar,” he said. “We have to understand our Catholic traditions and sacraments. We need to listen and then take what we’ve heard, discuss where suggestions are coming from and form a vision in order to methodically do some planning.”
While parishioners may fear renovating will be cost prohibitive and will ruin the characteristics of the church, it need not happen if the consultant heeds the personality of the parish, explained Horbinski. It is imperative when two or more churches merge that the consultant and building team understand the importance of retaining the past and in what form, in order to retain the church as a sacramental and liturgical home.
“It comes down to formation: listening and looking at what they have and looking at parish treasures,” he said. “In many parishes we can take elements like altars and baptismal fonts and transform and adapt them to contemporary liturgy. We can take the old and mix it with the new so it works better, and we can do that with any number of things like art, wood trim and even old pews.”
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Beth Coey holds her granddaughter Isabel Sandrone, 4 months, as she reverences the altar of the newly dedicated St. Gabriel Church in Richfield last August. Church building projects must comply with the U.S. bishops guidelines, "Built of Living Stones." In addition, churches in the Milwaukee Archdiocese are required to abide by "Building a Home, Gathering the Assembly." (Catholic Herald photo by Sam Lucero) |
According to the liturgical design consultants queried, renovations often causing the most discontent can include moving the tabernacle, the altar, the baptistery, and adding the cross with corpus. However, no changes are made that are not in accordance with the U.S. bishops and archdiocesan guidelines.
Parishes encouraged to read bishops’ guidelines
When Holy Cross Fr. Richard Bullene, a consultant and assistant dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame, works with a parish, he emphasizes that everyone involved in the building or renovation read and re-read the documents pertinent to liturgical design.
“This can move parties away from passions about personal likes and dislikes, and can promote designs that will endure,” he said. “The decisions are much easier to accept if they are grounded in a reasoned reading of the texts rather than in the preferences of the one who shouts the loudest, has the fanciest title, or writes the biggest check.
“And they must really read the full texts, not just mine them for single sentences used to prove a point,” he added.
Fr. Bullene said historically the ancient location of the baptistery is at the entrance of the church or in a freestanding building.
“The church is recovering this use,” he said. “And the altar placement now generally reflects the notion of the people of God gathered around it, which tends to a centralized position. This can be done quite literally in a new church designed accordingly or more notionally in a T-shaped arrangement. The crucifix is called for as associated with the altar and often placement at the back of the sanctuary provides this association.”
Liturgical Design Consultants
Here is a list of liturgical design consultants who are approved by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
John Buscemi
Box 159
Albany, WI 53502
(608) 862-3007; (773) 325-2625
JCBStudio@aol.com
Carol Frenning
Minneapolis, MN
(612) 928.9044
Historical / art consultant (good at helping historic churches assess their assets)
Dennis Horbinski
Horbinski Design Group
4227 South Coventry Court
New Berlin, WI 53151
(262) 860-9052
horbinski@sbcglobal.net
Martin Kleiber
KS Consulting
111 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53203
(414) 272-9029
mkleiber@kahlerslater,com
James Sustman
1606 Crystal Spring Road
Two Rivers, WI 54241
(920) 794-1706
Capuchin Fr. Mark Joseph Costello
3407 South Archer
Chicago, IL 60608
(773) 890-1238
markjoseph@ameritech.net
Holy Cross Fr. Richard S. Bullene
124 Corby Hall
Notre Dame, IN 26556
(219) 631-7723
rbullene@nd.edu
Ronald Zawilla
Gallery Genesis
4201 South Archer Ave.
Chicago, IL 60632
(800) 247-2425
E.J. Potente
Studios of Potente, Inc.
914 60th St.
Kenosha, WI 53140
(262) 654-3535
info@potenteinc.com
http://www.potentestudios.com
Joseph P. Wittmann
3814 S. Centennial Circle
Milwaukee, WI 53221
(414) 581-8322
josephwittmann@yahoo.com
Denis McNamara
Liturgical Institute
1000 East Maple Ave.
Mundelein, IL 60060
(847) 837-4543
dmcnamara@usml.edu |
Placement of tabernacle
A common complaint with building or renovation is that the tabernacle is hard to find or hidden, but according to “Building a Home, Gathering the Assembly,” the tabernacle in which the Eucharist is reserved is to be situated in some part of the church or oratory that is distinguished, conspicuous, beautifully decorated and suitable for prayer (Canon 938). The location of this area is to be prominently visible from within the main worship space.
“In some churches with exceptionally deep sanctuaries this can be done by moving the altar forward and keeping the tabernacle deep in the apse, on axis,” Fr. Bullene said. “In most cases, there is not enough room for this. From the pews, it looks like the altar and the tabernacle are one visual composition. As a priest, I find such arrangements extremely uncomfortable. During Mass I feel as if I am forced to stand right in front of the tabernacle with my back to the reserved sacrament in a disrespectful way.”
According to E.J. Potente of Studios of Potente Inc., in Kenosha, many renovations involve moving the tabernacle and creating a gathering space that was not part of the original design intent of the building.
“There is considerable discussion today about the place for the tabernacle and the independent reservation chapels of an earlier period in the post conciliar church and have been replaced in many cases with a recommendation to fold the reservation space into the assembly, even in the old central position behind the altar of sacrifice,” he said.
The reappearance of the standing, hanging or processional crucifixes is a restoration of sorts, admitted Potente.
“Many of these disappeared from Catholic churches after the council and the new documents have made it clear that they are to be returned,” he said.
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