Pastor’s Corner — May 14th, 2023
Altar Dedication
We had a beautiful Mass this past Thursday with Bishop Boyea for the dedication of our new altar. For those who were not able to be there here is what I wrote for the program:
Beauty moves us and lifts our hearts and minds to God, the source of beauty. We’re made for beauty. But it’s easy to see why in a culture that too often reduces the basic needs of the human person to those of the body that our inherent need for beauty–and therefore God–is sometimes obscured and left unfulfilled. As a result of this reductionism, we’re left focusing on the immediate gratification of bodily desires and downplaying the deeper needs of the soul. The good news is that the “way of beauty” in Catholic worship has always been an antidote to this impoverished mindset. In fact, the beauty of the liturgy serves as a welcome reminder of the primacy of God, who is the fulfillment of our deepest desires.
We didn’t renovate the interior of our church to make it “relevant” or more “appealing” to unbelievers, even though we know full well that authentic beauty is always relevant and appealing. Nor did we do this renovation to simply solve practical problems, even though it did begin with a desire to fix our worn out kneelers and pews. The primary reason why we spent the energy and resources to finish the renovation that began years ago was so that the interior of our church would reflect more appropriately the dignity and holiness of what happens in the church so that we can lift up our hearts and minds in prayer.
As I said in my Holy Thursday homily, we renovated the Church because of the mystery of the Eucharist and what happens during Mass. Mass is where heaven meets earth and we are caught up in God’s love in Christ. In Mass we participate and join ourselves to Christ in the perfect worship of God the Father in the love of the Holy Spirit. In the Mass the living God communicates himself to us in his Word and offers himself to us in the Body and Blood of Jesus, who then sends us out to bear witness to his Resurrection. To this end, our renovation faithfully follows the liturgical vision of the Second Vatican Council which calls for sacred furnishings in church buildings to reflect the splendor of mystery of the Holy Mass. The art and architecture of church buildings rightly serve as signs and symbols of heavenly realities and a foretaste of the heavenly liturgy. Much of the feedback reflects these truths.
As Bishop dedicates our altar, one piece of feedback sticks out to me the most: more than one person has told me that they believe the renovation of the church building is an external manifestation of the inner spiritual renovation happening in the lives of the parishioners, that the renovation of the building points to and reflects God’s renovation of our hearts. Yes, the interior of the church is beautiful, but we need to remember that Jesus is not ultimately interested in buildings, even if we have a need to make them beautiful for divine worship. Jesus is interested in the renovation of his Body, the Church, so she can be the beautiful bride in this world and in the world to come.
I’m grateful for so many people who made this project possible, especially all of you who prayed for this project and made generous financial donations. I’m thankful to the Bishop and diocesan liturgical design team who helped make our vision a reality. I’m especially grateful to my staff, especially Ryan Nardozzi, who served as the project director, Nancy Coffey and our maintenance staff. Thanks to all of you who served on our renovation design team, our finance council, and the parish council. Your counsel and insights were invaluable in this process. Finally, special thanks goes out to Ben Luther who served so faithfully as our architect and construction manager and who is primarily responsible for the final design of what we see now.
My sincere hope is that the beautification of our church can assist us all to enter more deeply into the mysteries of Christ in prayer so that we can allow him to renew our own lives by his transforming love. Such renewal will give God more glory than any beautiful church building.
Called and Gifted Workshop, June 3rd at St. Pat’s
A key part of living out one’s vocation is discerning and understanding the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Each of us receives gifts of the Holy Spirit at baptism that enable us to love others and build up the Church. These gifts, or charisms, are active in all intentional disciples of Christ and discerning them is a key way of living in holiness. I believe knowing the gifts God has given us is so essential to our walk with Jesus that we determined to have the Called and Gifted workshop (presented with the St. Catherine Institute) as one of the essential “rest stops” of our pathway so we can live our identity in Christ. Details on how to register can be found on page 4.
Your servant in the Lord,
Fr. Mathias