by Steve Raml, Director of Liturgy & Music
Looking Back – Looking Ahead
In his homily for the January 1st celebration of the Solemnity the Mary, the Mother of God, Fr Williams began with the word January itself, derived from the , who had two faces, one always looking forward and the other looking back.
Appropriate for the start of a new year, and very appropriate as we plan our 50th Anniversary celebration, coming next year. There is more information on this in our newsletter. A big anniversary is the perfect time to look back, reflecting on the people and the actions that have made St. Elizabeth Seton the parish it is today. At the same time, we look ahead, envisioning that we would like our parish to be as we move into the next 50 years.
I was thrilled when Dr. Kathy Goeppinger was introduced as the coordinator of our anniversary planning. Not only because I’ve had the privilege of working with Dr. Kathy for many years, but especially because of what she said when she spoke at all the Masses to kick off the planning. She said we needed to start with thoughts about our worship space.
The Starting Point
Why is that the starting point? Because when we gather for Mass, celebrating the Liturgy, we join in the prayer that the Church itself calls the “primary and indispensable source from which the faithful are to derive the true Christian spirit” (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy # 14, emphasis mine) That same document says the liturgy is the fount from which our faith flows and is the summit toward which all our Church activity should be focused.
That means our coming together in communal prayer, hearing the voice of God speak to us through Sacred Scripture and receiving the Body and Blood of Christ gives us the strength to go out into the world for the mission of building up the Kingdom of God on earth. That’s the fount. It also means that every activity in our Church life should prepare us to come together for the communal prayer of the Mass, which makes it the summit, our goal in becoming “one body, one spirit in Christ” (Eucharistic Prayer #3).
So. I will be keenly interested in hearing the comments from the survey our planning committee took in late November, asking about our worship space in general and what specifics people think we should focus on.
Survey Says….
Like many of you, I took the survey and offered my thoughts. I started with music (no surprise there), because of how integral music is to the Mass. We are blest to have a number of musicians, both vocalists and instrumentalists, who share their musical gifts with the parish. Our choirs have grown over the past three years, so that we have musical leadership at each weekend Mass.
That growth means a need to change the choir space. Ideally, the choir is an extension of the worshiping community, not separate from it. Our current set up has the choir boxed in, corralled as it were, in a special place, fenced away from the assembly.
I have ideas on how to change that, and you may as well. My thoughts started with eliminating the railing that sets us apart and lowering the first part of the choir area to floor level. This would bring the piano down to the floor, along with the first row of singers. The current level would become one small step up, so the choir has the visibility to be leaders of sung prayer and not blocked by a grand piano.
A Good First Impression
In addition to music, several national studies tell us that hospitality and welcome are reasons people choose a place of worship, stay with a place, or choose to leave.
Our entrances are quite small compared to the size of our worship space. My other big suggestion would have us move the main entrance (from the courtyard) to where the arches are currently and incorporate the arch design into the doors. That would greatly expand our gathering space, I’d also dream of doors with glass in them, so you could see someone coming as you are about to open a door. Our sliding glass doors at the other entrances already allow for this visibility.
Those two ideas would go a long way to making newcomers and our current parishioners feel welcomed as they come to Church.
You Can’t Fight the Building
As with any renovation, we will have to respect the physical limitations of the space. There’s an old adage, “when you get into a fight with the building, the building always wins.” So, I may be dreaming with these ideas, but Scripture shows us that God tends to work through dreams to get the job done!
